The defending national champion Clemson Tigers start the season the way they finished in January -- atop the Amway Coaches Poll.

The Tigers received 59 of 65 first-place votes in the poll, released Thursday, giving them the top spot in the preseason coaches ranking for the first time in school history. No. 2 Alabama received the other first-place votes.

The 1-2 ranking for Clemson and Alabama comes as little surprise heading into the season, as both teams are favorites to make it back to the College Football Playoff, with the potential to meet for the fifth straight time in the playoffs. The programs have split the past four national championships.

One of the biggest reasons so many expect them to make a run at another title hinges on their respective quarterbacks. Trevor Lawrence returns to Clemson, while Tua Tagovailoa is ready to put his performance in the national championship game behind him to lead Alabama again.

If Nick Saban needs any extra motivation to give his team, beyond its 44-16 loss to the Tigers in January, this one might work: This is the first time since 2015 that Alabama is not No. 1 in the preseason coaches poll.

As for the rest of the top five, Georgia will start the season at No. 3, while Oklahoma is No. 4 and Ohio State is No. 5. The same five teams also opened the 2018 season in the preseason Top 5. Three of them -- Clemson, Alabama and Oklahoma -- made the playoff.

Could Oklahoma join them again? Anticipation is high with former Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts taking over for Kyler Murray with the Sooners.

There are not many surprises rounding out the top 10, with No. 6 LSU followed by Michigan, Florida, Notre Dame and Texas.

As for conference breakdown, the Big Ten leads the way with seven ranked teams, followed by the SEC with six. Washington is the highest-ranked Pac-12 team, at No. 12. Among the Power 5 conferences, the ACC has the fewest ranked teams, with two.

The only ranked Group of 5 team is UCF, checking in at No. 17. The Knights, expected to start Notre Dame transfer Brandon Wimbush at quarterback, are attempting to go undefeated in the regular season for the third straight year.

Olympic bronze medalist Ashley Wagner says she was sexually assaulted by John Coughlin, becoming the latest figure skater to make an accusation against the former U.S. skater.

Wagner, 28, detailed the June 2008 assault to USA Today Sports this week, saying she was 17 when the then-22-year-old Coughlin climbed into bed with her, kissed her and groped her without her permission. She said the incident occurred after a party at the U.S. team's figure skating camp in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

"I was absolutely paralyzed in fear," Wagner told the newspaper.

After several minutes, Wagner said she grabbed Coughlin's hand and told him to stop. At that point, he left the room.

Wagner, a three-time national champion who is now retired from competitive skating, also wrote about the assault in a first-person piece for USA Today.

"I now know that regardless of the events of that night, I got into that bed thinking I was safe to just fall asleep. He was the one who took away that safety," Wagner wrote. "I went into that house just wanting to have fun with my friends. He was the one who shattered all of that."

Coughlin died by suicide in January, a day after he received an interim suspension from the U.S. Center for SafeSport and U.S. Figure Skating for unspecified conduct. He was 33.

He was accused by three people of sexual misconduct at the time of his suspension. Two of those accusations came from minors, according to USA Today, including one from his former pairs teammate Bridget Namiotka.

Wagner detailed her accusation to U.S. Figure Skating in February.

"What happened to Ashley should not happen to anyone, period," USFS spokeswoman Barbara Reichert told USA Today in a statement. "Ashley is incredibly strong; not just to have the courage to come forward with her story, but to share her experience publicly to help others."

Wagner said she and Coughlin never discussed the incident again.

She said she feared speaking out earlier because she competes in a sport where judges determine success. She told the newspaper two factors helped change her mind: the emergence of the #MeToo movement and Coughlin's coaching suspension.

"I didn't really genuinely process what this was until the start of the #MeToo movement," Wagner told USA Today. "Hearing other women come forward with their stories, it kind of made me reflect on this experience in a completely different manner. I had always felt violated but something within that movement really showed me that I was violated and I did have my safety and comfort taken away from me that night."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Melvin Gordon's agent told ESPN's Josina Anderson that he requested last week that the Los Angeles Chargers trade the running back after the team remained at its initial offer of approximately $10 million per season.

Agent Damarius Bilbo told Anderson that Chargers general manager Tom Telesco told him the Pro Bowl running back is still viewed as family and that Bilbo was not given permission to seek trade partners.

Last year, Bilbo was able to persuade the Miami Dolphins to move his client Jarvis Landry in a trade. Landry received the franchise tag and was then traded to the Cleveland Browns.

Gordon is holding out from training camp as he seeks a new contract. Last week, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter that Gordon's holdout is expected to be prolonged and threatens to last into the season.

The 26-year-old Gordon is scheduled to be in the final year of his contract, a fifth-year option worth $5.6 million.

Top-30 recruit MarJon Beauchamp plans to skip college and instead work out with a training program to prepare for the 2021 NBA draft.

Beauchamp will begin the yearlong program at Chameleon BX following his senior year of high school. He will attend Dream City Christian (Arizona) for his final high school season.

"It's 100 percent," Beauchamp said of his decision.

Chameleon BX is a San Francisco-based training program developed by Frank Matrisciano, who worked at Memphis from 2011-14 and has worked with the likes of Blake Griffin.

"It's a 12-month plan, strictly will be training and getting my body where it needs to be," Beauchamp said. "Just living like a pro these whole 12 months, learning responsibilities and working with NBA coaches who had experience, I think it's the best route for me."

Beauchamp, a 6-foot-6 small forward from Seattle, is ranked No. 29 in the ESPN 100 for the 2020 class. He's the No. 5 small forward in the country.

Arizona, Washington, Alabama and others had extended scholarship offers to Beauchamp.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat has been added to USA Basketball's national team roster for the FIBA World Cup, while Andre Drummond of the Detroit Pistons and Montrezl Harrell of the Los Angeles Clippers have withdrawn from the squad.

Adebayo's addition means the national team has 16 players in advance of training camp that starts Monday in Las Vegas. The U.S. will take 12 players to China later this month for the World Cup, which starts Aug. 31.

Also Thursday, USA Basketball announced the addition of Memphis' Jaren Jackson Jr. to the select team for training camp. The select team, which will work out against the national team next week in Las Vegas, now has 14 players.

Oklahoma City and forward Patrick Patterson have agreed to a buyout on the final season of his contract, allowing him to become a free agent, league sources tell ESPN.

Once his $5.7 million deal clear waivers this week, Patterson's intention is to sign with the LA Clippers, league sources tell ESPN.

The Clippers, with two available roster spots, are constructing a frontcourt bench to support its two new forwards - Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.

Patterson, 30, was never able to find consistent traction in a role with the Thunder in his two seasons there. He averaged less than 10 minutes a game - far different than the impactful the previous three seasons with the Toronto Raptors. In nine NBA seasons, Patterson has averaged nearly seven points and four rebounds. He's had stops with the Rockets, Kings, Raptors and Thunder.

New Orleans Pelicans executive vice president David Griffin detailed the challenges of his three seasons working with LeBron James as Cleveland Cavaliers general manager, saying the experience was "miserable" and questioning James' winning instinct in Los Angeles.

Griffin told Sports Illustrated for a story published Thursday that the annual challenge of building a title contender around James was too stressful, even if it did result in a championship in 2016.

"Everything we did was so inorganic and unsustainable and, frankly, not fun. I was miserable," Griffin said. "Literally the moment we won the championship I knew I was gonna leave. There was no way I was gonna stay for any amount of money."

Winning a title in his home state also has affected James' mindset on the court, said Griffin, who wonders if James, now with the Los Angeles Lakers, is more preoccupied with other priorities.

"There wasn't a lot else for him," Griffin said. "I don't think he's the same animal anymore about winning."

Griffin told SI that he privately wept the night the Cavaliers won the title, saying he was so obsessed with winning that he "didn't love the game anymore."

Griffin ultimately parted ways with the Cavaliers in June 2017, with his contract set to expire at the end of that month.

"LeBron is getting all the credit and none of the blame. And that's not fun for people," Griffin said of the challenge of working with and playing with James. "They don't like being part of that world."

The Pelicans hired Griffin in April, and he has quickly reworked the roster after losing Anthony Davis by building around No. 1 overall pick Zion Williamson. Griffin said he will continue adding players if the postseason is within reach this season.

"People are gonna be like, 'What the f--- are they doing?'" he said. "We're trying to win basketball games!"

THE UNMISTAKABLE WAIL of electric guitar prompted Nick Nurse to bound to his feet. The grand finale he'd been waiting on was finally here, and the Toronto Raptors coach waved his arms to the heavens, gleefully swaying to the beat with the rest of the packed house at the Tropicana in Las Vegas.

What Prince fan doesn't love "Purple Rain"? Although the high priest of pop had died of an accidental fentanyl overdose in 2016, Nurse was sold on impersonator Jason Tenner, who, on this steamy July 5 evening, felt to him like the real deal. He turned and grinned at Raptors assistant coach Nate Bjorkgren, who had toiled alongside Nurse in the G League with the Iowa Energy before joining him in Toronto, where they had just delivered the first title in franchise history.

The two young coaches, still immersed in their championship stupor, bumped fists, then crooned in unison, "I never want to cause you any sorrow ... I never want to cause you any pain ... I only wanted to see you laughing ... in the purple rain."

It was too loud to hear their phones as the song hit its crescendo, but both Nurse and Bjorkgren had their cells on vibrate. Instinctively, they reached for their pockets, as manufactured purple haze from the Vegas extravaganza swallowed them.

Nurse looked down. The text message simply read, "I'm going home."

Kawhi Leonard was gone.

Meanwhile, just outside of Los Angeles proper, Clippers coach Doc Rivers picked at his meticulously prepared Dover sole, his favorite meal at his regular Malibu haunt, Nobu, where the wine was flowing as he shared dinner with friends. But Rivers was distracted. It was July 5, and the call should have come by now.

It hadn't, and Rivers' companions, who had no connection to the NBA, understood why he stole repeated glances at his phone, fretting about the spotty service, about the time ticking away, about the magnitude this potential transaction would have on his franchise and his career.

Just 15 months ago, Rivers' future was murky. His team had blown up its core, seemingly headed for the kind of reboot Rivers had bolted Boston to avoid. He had to wait before finally securing an extension from a supportive but demanding owner, Steve Ballmer, who wanted to win -- now.

The quest for Kawhi Leonard had been thorny, complicated. A flurry of text messages from Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank updated Rivers regularly as the lateral pursuit of Paul George, the bait that would entice the big fish to bite, began in earnest. Oklahoma City's price was steep -- an insistence on young point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a player Doc adored, and multiple first-round picks. Ballmer drew the line at four. Rivers trusted Frank, his longtime friend and colleague, to manage the negotiations, but it didn't stop him from sheepishly excusing himself from his Nobu table, stepping outside the oceanfront eatery and calling Ballmer himself to implore him to throw in that fifth first-round selection.

"It wasn't just for Paul George," Rivers would explain afterward, "it was for Paul George and Kawhi. We weren't getting one without the other."

Rivers returned, attempting to engage in the lively conversation at his table. It was pointless. His fish was cold and his phone had gone silent.

Deathly silent.

"I can't do this," he thought, but his screen suddenly lit up. And before Doc could get by the Bonsai tree outside Nobu's exit, he was on the phone.

"We got 'em!" Frank declared.

PLAYER EMPOWERMENT MAY have NBA athletes buzzing with excitement, but it has sent the stress level of coaches soaring to new, unparalleled heights, afflicting everyone from young upstarts to the most established tacticians in the game. In an instant, it can fortify or decimate a roster, make or break a coach's resume and obliterate a carefully crafted long-term blueprint for franchise success.

"The truth is our business is quite fatal," says Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle, who is the president of the NBA Coaches Association. "But contracts are historically strong. I believe ownership more than ever understands the need for coaching and continuity."

Not all of his brethren agree. The average term for an NBA coach is 3.8 years, but that number is a bit inflated by the long tenures of San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich (23 seasons), Miami Heat coach Eric Spoelstra (11) and Carlisle (11). Subtract those and the mean of the remaining 27 coaches drops to 2.6 years. Teams traditionally map out a five-year plan (or longer) for growth, factoring in future drafts, trades and free-agency signings.

"But you can throw that out the window now," says New Orleans Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry. "There's too much movement -- too much unexpected movement. You can't plan beyond next year."

So, while NBA fans celebrate the whims of the supernovas, coaches brood over how it affects their future.

"If a team spends all this money and resources to get the best players, you know they will cater to them," says one Western Conference coach. "And if that player says, 'I want that coach gone,' what recourse do we have?"

Star players wielding their muscle is not a new concept. Earvin "Magic" Johnson famously pressured the Lakers to relieve Paul Westhead of his duties in 1981. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar demanded a trade from Milwaukee to Los Angeles while still under contract in 1975, and Charles Barkley bullied his way out of Philadelphia in 1992.

"You have Paul George, one of our premier players in the league, who was paid very well by the team, suddenly announce, 'Hey, I want to be traded.' You have no recourse but to get the best deal you can."

Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry

But those Hall of Famers were the exception to the rule. Players from earlier generations, who valued security over movement, mostly stayed put. They also did not engage in camaraderie with their opponents. As Magic opined at a recent event, "I wanted to beat Larry Bird, not play with him."

"The league has always revolved around the top 15 guys," explains Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr. "But how many of them left? Larry [Bird] stayed, Magic [Johnson] stayed, Tim Duncan stayed, Kobe [Bryant] stayed, even Michael [Jordan] mostly stayed.

"What's shocking is the caliber of the players -- LeBron, KD, Kawhi -- that are leaving. And they kind of run the league."

Kerr says he has no issue with players departing in free agency, but he does take umbrage with those who force their way out of town before their contracts are up, citing both Anthony Davis and Paul George as examples.

"That's the real danger," says Kerr. "That's where you start to get concerned. At least I do. As for our league, it's bad for business."

Gentry says there's a right way and a wrong way to request a trade. If a star agrees to work privately with the franchise, and agrees to wait until the offseason, he says, it avoids high-profile disruptions that hurt both the player and the team.

"I'm a realist," Gentry says. "When Anthony signed with Klutch Sports, I knew what was going to happen. They told me, 'No, we're not trying to get him traded,' but we all realized it was just a matter of time.

"I understand that some players feel the need to move on. With Anthony, it could have and should have been handled differently. If it was, I would have been OK with the situation."

After George requested his trade from the Thunder -- and pushed to have it consummated within 48 hours -- Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti lamented the ability of players under contract to talk with and recruit one another without penalty. It is one of many factors the league office is considering.

"You have Paul George, one of our premier players in the league, who was paid very well by the team, suddenly announce, 'Hey, I want to be traded,'" Gentry says. "You have no recourse but to get the best deal you can.

"I hear players say, 'Why is it different from a team trading us?' Because this isn't football, where they can say, 'If you're not playing well, we're gonna cut you and you won't get paid.' We pay our players and it's guaranteed."

Gentry feels the league is to the point that contracts "don't really mean anything anymore, so make them all two-year deals. It will save us a lot of headaches."

Nurse knew all along that Leonard was potentially a one-year rental. When he saw Kawhi's text, he cursed, then exhaled, then resumed waving his arms to "Purple Rain." No one, he reasoned, tried to wrest the Larry O'Brien trophy away from him upon hearing the news.

It wasn't as though Kawhi's decision to leave a championship culture lacked precedent. Just one summer previously, Leonard, upset over the treatment he received for tendinopathy in his right thigh, rejected Popovich, the most respected coach in the game, by demanding a trade and leaving carnage that haunts that organization to this day.

Not even the most vaunted franchises in NBA history are immune to the movement.

STEVE KERR DROPPED his bag alongside a lounge chair on the beach, purposely choosing a quiet spot away from other sunbathers who were enjoying Hawaii's spectacular surf. He craved the solitude, attempting to decompress from the most taxing and emotionally wrenching finish to his coaching career, climaxing with catastrophic injuries to both Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson that left the Warriors under intense scrutiny.

"I was fried," Kerr admits now.

He settled into his chair and opened his book, "Billion Dollar Whale," the true story of a social climber who pulled off one of the most incredible heists in the history of the financial industry. Kerr purposely left his cell phone in his resort hotel room, even though it was July 1, the start of the free-agent frenzy. He became momentarily lost in the text of his book, until a 30-something man not 30 feet away from the Golden State coach, who had not recognized Kerr, suddenly screeched.

"Oh my god!" he exclaimed to his buddy. "KD is going to the Nets!"

Approximately 5,000 miles away from the sandy beaches, Brooklyn Nets coach Kenny Atkinson paced in general manager Sean Marks' office, watching the seconds tick off to the official start of free agency. Atkinson couldn't fathom why everyone had forecast them as the favorites to land Durant. Neither he nor Marks had spoken to KD. He had never been to visit the team's facility. None of it made sense to him.

"I [was] naturally skeptical," Atkinson confesses now.

Brooklyn dutifully had its white board carefully organized with Plan A, B, C and D. The Nets felt confident that Kyrie Irving, who had soured on the Boston Celtics, was coming. Durant was the unknown kingpin that would topple all the free-agent dominoes once he made his decision.

KD said he'd reveal his destination on his Instagram page. Within seconds of 6 p.m. ET, Nets staffers were shouting, hugging, whooping and cheering. Atkinson glanced at the screen, as music from Brooklyn rapper Notorious B.I.G. played in the background.

There it was: Durant declaring his love for the Brooklyn Nets.

A report of the former MVP's move had broken barely an hour earlier, but the Nets coach wanted confirmation directly from the source before suspending his disbelief.

"Even when I saw it," Atkinson says, "I didn't believe it. Durant is going to leave Golden State? I just couldn't wrap my head around it."

Marks answered his cell phone. He engaged in a brief conversation with Rich Kleiman, Durant's agent.

He turned to his coach, beaming.

"It's true," Marks said.

KERR DOESN'T EXPECT anyone to feel sorry for him. He points out that he and the Warriors were the beneficiary of player movement just three summers ago, when Durant spurned the Thunder for the Warriors as a free agent. Ironically, Kerr says, he was sitting on the same beach when he learned of that fortuitous windfall, which led to two championships and two NBA Finals MVP trophies for Durant.

"Hawaii giveth," says Kerr wryly, "and taketh away."

Because of Durant's departure, and Thompson's torn ACL, Golden State is suddenly no longer an NBA favorite. Nor is Toronto. Or Boston, which lost Irving and Al Horford to division rivals. In an instant, the NBA's power structure has shifted.

"It feels unfair, in a way," Atkinson admits. "Can you do a better job than Steve Kerr has? And what about Nick Nurse? He had this storybook year, winning in his first year as head coach. You wonder why the players wouldn't say, 'Can't we keep this going?'

"But I do like the players having the right to choose. We live in this free-market society yet we have a socialistic athletic structure."

Warren LeGarie represents dozens of NBA coaches, Nurse and the Houston Rockets' Mike D'Antoni among them. He says that what his clients require more than ever is support from above so they can maintain their authoritative voice with the players.

"The only way coaches have a chance is for management to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them so there's no space between them to try to divide them," LeGarie says. "Once they're divided, things start to fall apart."

D'Antoni understands that concept all too well. He still has his job, but he is in the final year of his deal after the Rockets offered him only a partially guaranteed extension. In addition, Daryl Morey would not allow him to bring back a number of his assistant coaches, including defensive wizard Jeff Bzdelik, whom the team begged to come out of retirement last winter as it faltered.

"Jeff is not only a great coach, he's a great friend and I would have loved to have him back," says D'Antoni. "When [front offices] want to make changes, they're going to make changes, whether I like it or not. You get upset for a while. It's hard personally, because you think to yourself, 'Did I contribute to this? Was there something I could have done?'"

D'Antoni has been indirectly impacted by the flurry of free agents. Once George forced his way off the Thunder, OKC decided to trade Russell Westbrook, who landed in Houston in exchange for Chris Paul, one of many Rockets players who endured summer trade rumors.

"I keep in contact with the players all the time," D'Antoni says. "We're in the same boat. They could be gone, I could be gone, they could get traded, I could get fired.

"Being upset over what happened in the summer? I'll make sure we handle it. We'll build back up that team trust and go out and try again."

IT BECAME REAL for Atkinson when Durant showed up to the Nets' practice facility about an hour after his free-agency announcement. Atkinson embarked on his speech about the team's excellent culture, their work ethic and then stopped himself. Why was he pitching somebody who had already committed?

"I'm talking to KD and he's looking around at our facility and saying, 'Wow, this is fantastic. What a view of the city!'" Atkinson says.

Atkinson knows his days of operating in relative obscurity are over. There is suddenly pressure to win -- soon -- and it will be up to him to manage the egos of Durant and Irving, which proved to be a tall order for their previous teams.

"We know our path will be different," Atkinson says. "It's part of the evolution of our franchise and my own personal evolution.

"It would be great to think the 'little engine that could' can win it all, but the consensus is 'No, you have to have top talent to win.'

"So, now our job is, 'How do we keep [Durant and Irving] here without compromising our culture?' It's a great challenge for us to figure out. Who wouldn't want this opportunity?"

Nurse, who is suddenly devoid of pressure, has his own decisions to make. He needs to reintegrate OG Anunoby, who missed parts of last season with injuries. He is thinking of moving Pascal Siakam, who should be poised for a breakout season, from power forward to small forward.

"I saw Fred [VanVleet] and Pascal the day after [Kawhi left]," Nurse says. "I told them, 'There are 20-plus shots up for grabs.' They both grabbed their right shoulders and said, 'We're ready.'"

Rivers knows it is championship or bust for the new Clippers. He also knows how difficult it is to land the Big One. In 2000, he nearly wooed Tim Duncan away from San Antonio to Orlando. It has long been reported that Duncan declined because Rivers told him families were not allowed on the team plane ("a myth that's been repeated forever -- not true," Rivers insists).

"We made a strong case for Duncan, but I never truly believed he'd actually come," Rivers admits. "It was better that way, because if I thought he was coming and he didn't, I would have been heartbroken."

Will Davis leave the Lakers, who traded away a bushel of young assets, heartbroken? In response to a question about his future, Davis told ESPN's Rachel Nichols recently, "I don't know what's gonna happen. I have one year here."

"And can you imagine," muses Kerr, "if Kawhi opts out in his second year after all the Clippers gave up?"

This is the new NBA. Players control their destiny, teams are mortgaging their future to appease them and coaches have to learn to adapt on the fly.

"You say players are empowered," Carlisle says. "It's our job now to empower them more.

"And if you don't figure out how to do that, you won't be employed very long."

The San Francisco Giants have placed outfielder Alex Dickerson on the 10-day injured list with a right oblique strain.

The Giants announced the move before Thursday afternoon's game against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Dickerson, 29, missed two straight seasons in 2017 and 2018 because of back and elbow injuries. The Giants have not disclosed how long he will be out because of the oblique strain.

Dickerson has been outstanding since being acquired by the Giants in a June trade with the San Diego Padres, batting .386 with six home runs, 23 RBIs and a 1.222 OPS in 30 games.

The Giants made a pair of other roster moves Thursday, promoting left-hander Sam Selman from Triple-A Sacramento and designating right-hander Dan Winkler for assignment.

San Francisco acquired Winkler on Wednesday in the trade that sent Mark Melancon to the Atlanta Braves.

LOS ANGELES -- If the Los Angeles Dodgers, owners of baseball's best record, don't win this year's World Series, the focus -- fair or not -- will probably shift back to July 31, 2019, the day the team's front office failed to secure the high-end reliever it so desperately needed and coveted.

Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers' president of baseball operations, sounded like a man at peace with that possibility.

"Everybody knows how hard we worked at it," Friedman said, "how much we wanted for it to happen."

The Dodgers pursued the likes of Felipe Vazquez and Brad Hand and Will Smith and Edwin Diaz, but came away with none of them. Instead, they made the type of depth-conscious additions previously relegated to the August waiver period, before Major League Baseball imposed a hard deadline for the 2019 season.

They added Jedd Gyorko, a right-handed-hitting infielder who can provide insurance for David Freese, Chris Taylor and Enrique Hernandez, all of whom, like Gyorko, currently reside on the injured list. And they added Adam Kolarek, a sidearm left-handed reliever who has allowed only five runs over his past 17 innings, but in no way represents the dominant late-inning bullpen arm many expected.

The Dodgers had a very specific need heading into the deadline, which limited their chances of securing it. And the asking price for that need was high, as evidenced by the fact that none of the aforementioned relievers switched teams. Friedman stressed that he was aggressive in his pursuit, maintaining negotiations with multiple clubs leading up to Wednesday's 4 p.m. ET deadline. He also countered what has become a stereotype for young, analytically driven front offices -- that they are too obsessed with winning trades to make them.

"I don't think this is something where we were looking to win a deal from a value standpoint," Friedman said on a conference call. "You kind of expect in July not to do that. We made plenty of offers that were definitely under water from a value standpoint but felt good about making because of the pieces that we have.

"But things have a funny way of playing out. A year or two from now, that could end up having been a really good thing. We're not sure. But as far as process and the conversations and how aggressive we were, we felt really good about what we could control."

In four prior seasons, Friedman has acquired Manny Machado, Yu Darvish, Rich Hill, Josh Reddick, Alex Wood and Tony Watson for late-season pushes. This year, however, he was unwilling to meet the high demands for the high-end relievers he sought, ultimately keeping top prospects such as Gavin Lux, Dustin May and Keibert Ruiz.

The Dodgers reportedly had conversations with the Detroit Tigers about breakout closer Shane Greene; but Greene instead went to the Atlanta Braves, who were able to acquire three late-inning relievers to bolster a team that ended July with a 6½-game lead in the National League East. The Houston Astros, who defeated the Dodgers in the 2017 World Series, made the biggest move of all, acquiring Zack Greinke for a rotation that already includes Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole; the deal gave the Astros a clear advantage over the New York Yankees, who, like the Dodgers, did nothing of relative substance at the deadline.

"Our focus in each deadline I've been here has been to be aggressive, and more often than not, that has resulted in an aggressive move," Friedman said. "Today, it did not. But we had various conversations going up 'til 1 o'clock and feel like we've got a team, and depth in place, to win a championship."

The Dodgers, cruising toward their seventh consecutive division title, have won 71 of their first 110 games this season. Their offense leads the National League in OPS, their starting rotation leads the NL in ERA and their defense leads the majors in defensive runs saved. But their bullpen -- 4.06 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 2.86 strikeout-to-walk ratio -- lags behind. It hasn't necessarily been bad, but it has clearly lacked a dominant late-inning reliever who could bridge the gap to closer Kenley Jansen.

Maybe it'll be Joe Kelly, who holds a 5.20 ERA in the first season of a three-year, $25 million contract.

Maybe it'll be Kolarek, who has held opposing left-handed hitters to a .302 slugging percentage throughout his career.

Maybe it'll be Kenta Maeda, who has pitched in high-leverage situations over the past two postseasons. Or Julio Urias, the young left-hander who has excelled in a multi-inning role. Or May, who will be called up for his major league debut on Friday.

The Dodgers must now make that determination internally.

"We've got two months and a lot of really talented arms -- some in the big leagues, some in the minor leagues -- and we're gonna spend these two months doing everything we can to figure out that right combination," Friedman said. "It certainly won't be from a lack of talent. We're going to throw some high-quality arms at it. We feel good about our collective ability to do that."