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Warwickshire appoint Manchester City's James Thomas as performance director
Thomas, who played rugby union professionally, was previously performance director at British Gymnastics for five years, and oversaw the sport's push for medals at the Tokyo Olympics.
Warwickshire's chief executive, Stuart Cain, said that Thomas' expertise would be utilised to "create something special" at the club.
"James is recognised in high performance sport as a real talent and has demonstrated ability to cross sports and quickly grasp what's important in order to deliver success," Cain said.
"We wanted someone with real strategic experience of creating world-class, successful performance environments. He's done that in football, arguably one of the toughest performance environments in world sport, and been equally successful with individual athletes in high-pressure Olympic sports.
"He's proved that he can move in to a new sport and quickly create a successful performance environment that leads to medals and trophies by developing the facilities and structures needed to create world-class players and teams.
"The cricket leadership team has more than 200 years of technical cricket experience and 75 years' experience of being a Bear. Combining this with James' expertise will create something special.
"He knows how to build teams as well as individuals that can handle high-pressure situations and deliver success. This was one of the areas of improvement identified in the recent high performance review.
"Having worked globally, he also understands the impact of other leagues on domestic structures, something we really need to get our head around as franchise cricket develops.
"The review also demonstrated our need to modernise the way we recruit and prepare for games with greater use of data and analysis. James has some really interesting ideas and plenty of experience in this space which will help us build more accountability and structure in to how we bring in and develop players, as well as create winning teams.
"He's also used to working with multiple coaches working across different disciplines in men's and women's sport. Another important consideration as he will be accountable for success across three different teams playing four different formats of the game.
"I think James' desire to become a Bear illustrates how the world of cricket is changing and professionalising as a global sport to rival football."
Although Thomas does not make the switch to Edgbaston until the summer, Warwickshire said he would spend time with the men's and women's squads in pre-season "as well as other leading names from the world of cricket" to prepare him for the role.
Thomas said: "I am delighted to take on the role of performance director at Warwickshire County Cricket Club. Throughout the recruitment process I was impressed by the club's desire to retain and celebrate its proud Bears culture, whilst embracing the opportunity to evolve and build a high-performance environment that's capable of achieving sustained, long term success.
"I am excited to meet the players, coaches and wider staff, as we look to work together to achieve extraordinary cricket performances in the future."
India wary of keeping bowlers fresh for semi-final, says Ryan ten Doeschate
New Zealand have also already qualified for the semi-finals and Sunday's match will decide the Group A topper.
"We've had two pretty tough training sessions, so that's been the preparation," ten Doeschate said. "In terms of the bench strength, I think the priority is making sure that we have our best guys available and fully fit for the second game [the semi-final on March 4].
"But we also don't want to rest them for another two days [India have had a week off]. So to get that balance right, we might just try to share the bowling out a little bit. But we obviously want to win against New Zealand as well. It's important that we keep that momentum going and obviously to top the group as well. So the balance of those two things I just mentioned [is] to be thought about."
Ten Doeschate also said he was happy with the rest his players have had since their last game against Pakistan on February 23.
"They've had a lot of rest now. But it's how you back the two games up. So if all the seamers are going to bowl 10 overs, and then say we bowl second in the first game, we're bowling 36 hours later, we're bowling first, that's quite a workload.
"So that's what I was alluding to. One of the options is to make sure the guys don't bowl their full quota of overs, if that opportunity allows itself. But we're ready to manage that in the field and try and keep the guys as fresh as possible for the first and the final."
Doeschate admitted that Sunday's match could be a contest of spin. "They [New Zealand] have [many] spinners as well, so it could be a contest of spin," he said.
"Coming into the competition, we weren't expecting such an over-reliance on spin. But the guys have bowled nicely and the pitch has helped a little bit, so I'm sure it's going to be the same for the next game here."
"KL has been good. He didn't get many chances... [But] we've got to keep Rishabh up and running. We never know when we're going to need him. But certainly to have two wicketkeepers of that calibre is a nice thing to have."
On whether scoring has been difficult on the Dubai pitch, he said, "I won't say difficult. I think we've become used to a standard where you score 320 without thinking too much about it. [Here] getting to 320 has been difficult.
"The pitch has played slightly differently, in my opinion, in those two games [against Bangladesh and Pakistan]. But they are probably like 280-290 pitches if you bat really well. So in the bigger picture, yeah, it's not like playing in Pakistan, where you expect to get 320-330. But you've got to adapt yourself and get a score that's good on these wickets. And we think it's right about 280-290, judging from the first two pitches."
Buttler goes down with the ship as England journey comes full circle
Though we did not know it at the time, that was the beginning of England's Bazball journey. Legend has it how, by degrees, the fates of England and McCullum would entwine and interlock: first, through his close personal friendship with his counterpart Eoin Morgan, who would adopt and adapt his mentor's aggressive methods to glorious effect for the 2019 World Cup, and then, in 2022, with the relaunch of the Test team under McCullum and Ben Stokes - essentially a transfusion of that new unfettered attitude from white ball to red.
Lest it be forgotten amid the navel-gazing, Buttler did achieve that aim magnificently at the first time of asking. And yet, even as he piloted England to the T20 World Cup in 2022, there were doubts as to whether he had placed his own stamp on the team that Morgan rebuilt, or simply pressed the right buttons and got the requisite response from men that he had already gone the journey with: Stokes and Adil Rashid chief among them.
These doubts were redoubled in 2023, when England's bid to get the 2019 band back together came such a spectacular cropper at the 50-over World Cup in India. And since then, even though McCullum's arrival as all-formats head coach implies a renewed focus on white-ball cricket, this winter's Ashes is surely the more pressing reason for the realignment. Irrespective of the setbacks in the short term, the consistency of messaging to the likes of Harry Brook, Jamie Smith and Ben Duckett, not to mention England's cohort of hard-worked fast bowlers, could yet be crucial in a legacy-defining campaign.
"There have been few players of Buttler's generation whose performances have seemed so dependent on his mood. His famous bat-handle message has long been a prop to remind him to snap out of it, but his innate pessimism was even in evidence in the Afghanistan defeat"
By the time of his ODI debut in February 2012, Buttler was already a star of the county one-day scene, having amassed 854 runs at 71.17 in his first two seasons with Somerset, including two Lord's finals. In an early example of the ECB's fretting about attention spans, the format back then was 40-overs not 50, and yet, as Matt Roller and Tim Wigmore noted in White Hot, their book about England's white-ball renaissance, this had the unexpected benefit of drawing out the players' aggressive tendencies, but not at the expense of technique and endurance.
By contrast, the advent of the Hundred has taken all such long-haul considerations out of the picture, and with it the very best players. Brook, Buttler's heir apparent, had not played a single List A game since May 2019 until his ODI debut against South Africa in 2023, and while Smith averaged 63.00 in Surrey's run to the One-Day Cup semi-final in 2021, his elevation to Hundred marquee status means he may never again feature in a competition that ticks over as a county development project in those overshadowed summer weeks.
It's hard, then, to blame Buttler if he has struggled to greet the advent of "white-ball Bazball" with anything like the same enthusiasm and optimism that Stokes dredged up for the red-ball project. There's next to no reason for a player who has achieved as much as he has, and with such a stellar cast alongside him, to believe that the best really is yet to come. Of his 2019 team-mates, only Rashid is performing at anything like the requisite level, and he is already 37. Buttler himself has made three fifties in 15 innings across formats since November, having missed five months with a calf injury.
Neat though the parallels may be, if Buttler, of all people, could not be persuaded to suspend his disbelief at the outset of this alliance, then who realistically could fill such a void? Ten years on from that tide-turning loss, this time England's standards may simply have sunk along with their skipper.
Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo. @miller_cricket
Sources: Fresno athletes played DFS on own stats
Fresno State and the NCAA are investigating allegations that two men's basketball players participated in daily fantasy contests based on their own performances, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
The sources told ESPN that Mykell Robinson and associates bet and entered daily fantasy sports contests involving Fresno State games in which he played. The wagers and fantasy entries included the under on Robinson's points and rebounds, according to the sources. At least one major U.S. sportsbook received increased betting interest on Robinson's props in games this season, according to an industry source.
Robinson, a junior forward, was removed from the roster after playing in a Jan. 11 game against Nevada. Attempts to reach Robinson for comment were unsuccessful.
Fresno State senior guard Jalen Weaver told ESPN on Thursday that he played a daily fantasy contest on his points total in the Bulldogs' home game against New Mexico on Dec. 31. Weaver said he risked $50 that he would score more than 11 points on the fantasy site Sleeper. He finished with 13 points in a 103-89 loss to the Lobos.
"I just made a bad decision, and I shouldn't even have gotten involved with that. Now, I'm obviously paying for it," he said. "I bet on a game I played in, but I never tried to sabotage the season. I never bet on us to lose, never bet my unders."
Weaver said the Fresno State athletic department showed him a text thread between Robinson and himself discussing betting. Weaver said he has been dismissed from the team and plans to enter the transfer portal at the end of the season.
A third Fresno State player, sophomore guard Zaon Collins, was held out of the Air Force game last Saturday for allegedly betting on professional sports, according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation. An attorney representing Collins in another matter did not return multiple messages left by ESPN this week. Collins remains on the roster listed on the school website.
On Saturday, when the gambling inquiry was first reported, Fresno State said in a statement that Weaver and Collins were "being withheld from competition as the University reviews an eligibility matter."
A Fresno State official declined comment to ESPN, citing the ongoing investigation. The Mountain West Conference did not respond to multiple messages left by ESPN. The NCAA declined to comment on the investigation, citing confidentiality, but said in a statement that it continued to advocate for the banning of prop bets on individual college players. Prop bets, it said, "significantly threaten the college athletics environment -- risking competition integrity and targeting student-athletes for harassment."
"Sports betting issues are on the rise and while the Association, conferences and schools are doing everything possible to protect the games and the students who play them, it's clear the types of bets offered and the prevalence of unregulated betting markets impede our efforts," the NCAA said.
The NCAA prohibits student-athletes from participating in sports betting, including fantasy sports. Athletes found to have manipulated games, shared information with bettors or bet on their games can face a permanent loss of eligibility.
Before the Air Force game, Weaver and Collins were two of Fresno State's top three scorers, with averages of 12.5 and 12.0 points, respectively. Collins also led the team with 4.7 assists per game.
Multiple sources told ESPN the Fresno State case is not believed to be tied to a federal investigation into a gambling ring's links to suspicious betting on college basketball games.
ESPN has reported that betting accounts associated with the ring placed wagers deemed suspicious by bookmakers against Temple, Eastern Michigan, North Carolina A&T, Mississippi Valley State and the University of New Orleans over the past two seasons.
Sources: Giants talk possible addition of Rodgers
INDIANAPOLIS -- After striking out in talks with Matthew Stafford, the New York Giants are including Aaron Rodgers in their search for a veteran quarterback, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter on Friday.
Rodgers is set to be a free agent after the New York Jets announced earlier this month that they would be moving on from the quarterback after two seasons. Sam Darnold is also expected to be among the options, a source said, after his breakout season last year with the Minnesota Vikings. The Giants had interest in Darnold last season as a free agent before he landed in Minnesota. New York signed Drew Lock to be its backup on a one-year deal worth $5 million guaranteed.
Super Bowl winner Russell Wilson also considered New York among his options at the start of this offseason. The Giants, meanwhile, are currently on track to have exclusive rights free agent Tommy DeVito as the only quarterback on the roster. The team holds the No. 3 pick in the NFL draft, but general manager Joe Schoen said this week at the NFL scouting combine that it would "look under every rock" to add a franchise quarterback.
Regardless, the Giants want to add a veteran in free agency who can serve as a mentor and/or reliable option if they can't get their future signal-caller in the draft.
"In theory, yeah, you take the rookie quarterback, they're on the rookie deal for five years. Where we are salary cap-wise, you can build around them. You've got to make sure that one of those guys are going to be there or they're even in the draft," Schoen said. "Having a vet in place -- I've told you guys this before, where when you go into draft day, you could go play a game. Is your team going to be as good as you want it to be? No, but you've still got the draft. So prevent some of the draft-for-need and being able to take the best player available."
The Giants' search now appears to include Rodgers, a 41-year-old four-time NFL MVP whose first New York run produced a 6-12 record as the Jets' starter, a torn Achilles tendon and tension throughout the Jets franchise.
The Jets are likely to release Rodgers with a post-June 1 designation. To do that, they must carry him on the roster until March 12, the start of the 2025 league year.
The Giants were among the teams to meet with Stafford over the past week about contract parameters, but the Rams announced Friday that they had agreed to a restructured contract that keeps the quarterback in Los Angeles.
Stafford agrees to restructured deal with Rams
The Rams and Matthew Stafford have agreed to a restructured contract that keeps the quarterback in Los Angeles, the team announced Friday.
The adjusted contract came after the Rams gave Stafford's agent, Jimmy Sexton, permission to speak to other teams about his value in the quarterback market. After discussions with the Las Vegas Raiders and New York Giants about contract parameters, Stafford and the Rams were able to come to an agreement on a reworked contract.
With Stafford remaining with the Rams, the Giants are investigating all veteran quarterback options, including Aaron Rodgers, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter. The Raiders, meanwhile, are now to look into veteran options that include Russell Wilson, Justin Fields and Sam Darnold, sources said.
ALLOW ME TO REINTRODUCE MYSELF pic.twitter.com/0uaAiGsWTa
Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) February 28, 2025
The Rams also reached a deal with one of Stafford's offensive linemen, as the team and offensive tackle Alaric Jackson reached a three-year, $57 million contract ($35M guaranteed) ahead of free agency, sources told ESPN's Jeremy Fowler.
Earlier in the week, Rams coach Sean McVay said on the "Fitz & Whit" podcast that the team's "first goal" was to have Stafford remain the starting quarterback but that the organization was trying to balance the short-term and long-term roster decisions that come from an adjusted contract.
"There is no dispute -- and let's not get it twisted in regards to anybody wanting him to be our quarterback," McVay said. "Now, there's layers to it. You have to be able to say, 'Hey, how do we continuously build? How do we support him? How do we make sure that he's getting what is his worth relative to those things?'"
Stafford, who signed a contract extension with the Rams in March 2022, had two seasons left on the extension with $4 million guaranteed in 2025 and no guaranteed money in 2026.
Last offseason, Stafford agreed to a reworked contract, an adjustment that took until the day the Rams reported to training camp. McVay said after the season that he hoped the team and Stafford would have clarity on the situation "sooner than later."
"I'm sure proud of the body of work and really proud of the way that he's played," McVay said during his end-of-season news conference. "The coolest thing you can say about Matthew is he shines the brightest on the biggest stages. When you look at the seven playoff games that he's played in since he's been a Ram, he certainly gives you a chance every time you step out on the field, and for that I'm sure appreciative."
After Stafford spent his first 12 seasons with the Detroit Lions, the Rams traded for him before the 2021 season. In his first season in Los Angeles, Stafford and the Rams won Super Bowl LVI.
In 16 games last season, Stafford completed 65.8% of his passes for 3,762 yards with 20 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
Stafford is 191 yards shy of 60,000 career passing yards, a milestone nine other quarterbacks have reached.
Wolves star Edwards suspended after 16th tech
LOS ANGELES -- Minnesota Timberwolves superstar Anthony Edwards has been issued an automatic one-game suspension after picking up two technical fouls in Thursday's game against the Los Angeles Lakers, giving him 16 this season.
Edwards will sit out Friday's road game against the Utah Jazz, the league office announced.
Edwards had hoped that his 16th technical foul would be rescinded after the league office reviewed it.
"Whatever they're gonna do, bruh," Edwards told ESPN as he exited Crypto.com Arena briefly after the final buzzer. "I don't even know. They should [rescind the second technical]."
Edwards was ejected Thursday night after drawing his second technical foul of the night with 5:21 remaining in the third quarter.
As Edwards walked toward the tunnel, he tossed the ball into the crowd, drawing a delay-of-game warning.
Edwards and Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt were called for double technical fouls when they exchanged shoves at the end of the first quarter.
Edwards' second technical of the game occurred after he complained about a no-call when he felt he got fouled on a drive. He fell after Lakers guard Gabe Vincent's left foot clipped the back of Edwards' right leg; he griped at referee Brent Barnaky while sitting on the floor.
"[Edwards] was issued his second unsportsmanlike technical foul for directing profanity towards a game official," crew chief James Williams told a pool reporter.
Williams said Barnaky took into consideration that a second technical foul would result in an ejection before making the call against Edwards.
According to ESPN Research, Edwards is the first player to receive 16 technical fouls before March since DeMarcus Cousins in 2016-17. For every two additional technical fouls that Edwards receives during the regular season, he will be automatically suspended without pay for an additional game.
Edwards has been called for four technical fouls in four games since the All-Star break.
"He's got to be better," Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. "He's had too many outbursts. I think a lot of them are deserved. They're going to miss some calls from time to time for sure, so he's got to be better. We've been talking to him about it, so it's on him."
Embiid to miss remainder of season due to knee
The Philadelphia 76ers said Friday that star Joel Embiid will miss the remainder of the regular season as he and the team continue to look for a long-term solution for a troublesome left knee that has plagued his season.
Embiid had increased swelling in the knee following a loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Saturday night, and underwent a new round of imaging on Monday to determine why his knee has not responded well to the treatment protocols he has received this season. The 76ers and Embiid consulted with dozens of doctors and specialists to determine the best path forward for the 7-footer.
All season, Embiid has tried to play through pain in his knee, hoping it would improve as he got into better condition. He received numerous injections throughout the season, sources said, hoping to reduce the swelling and discomfort enough to enable him to play and be available for the 76ers.
Instead of improving as he played more, the pain and swelling have increased. And in recent weeks, that has shown in Embiid's and the team's performance. Nonetheless, there were also stretches of the season when teammates and coaches would see Embiid perform well in practices, then sit out of upcoming games, sources said. His daily status appeared fluid all season, and it led to frustration among all parties.
Embiid played just 39 games last season after tearing the meniscus in his knee. He had surgery in early February, came back in early April, was part of the 76ers' playoff run and then won a gold medal with the U.S. Olympic team over the summer. He acknowledged earlier this month that he didn't have enough time to recover after surgery.
The 76ers, who opened with championship hopes, have lost nine straight games and 11 of their past 12 contests, falling to 20-38 amid an injury-marred, disastrous season. Even when Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey all play, Philadelphia is just 7-8.
The 76ers' recent skid has been significant for the franchise in a potentially good way; Philadelphia has broken a tie with the Nets and has sole possession of the sixth-worst record in the NBA. The 76ers' first-round pick in this draft is top-six protected, otherwise it goes to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Throughout this star-crossed season, Embiid was never able to stay on the court for any sustained period of time. Embiid played in only 19 games, meaning he has missed 39 of the 76ers' 58 games so far en route to a 20-38 record.
In Saturday's loss, Embiid was slow to get up late in the third quarter when he lost the ball and hit the court. He was then benched in the fourth after he scored just 14 points in 31 minutes and missed all six of his 3-point attempts. In his final two games this season, the strain of the injury was noticeable as Embiid scored 15 or fewer points in consecutive contests for the first time since May 2021.
Embiid -- the 2022-23 NBA MVP -- was selected as an All-Star in each of his past seven seasons prior to this one. This season, the 30-year-old has had one of his worst outputs: his lowest scoring average since 2017-18 (23.8 points); his lowest rebounds per game (8.2) since his 2016-17 rookie year; and career lows in blocks per game (0.9), field goal shooting (44.8%), 3-point shooting (29.9%), effective field goal percentage (48.1%) and win shares (1.5).
The 76ers' 2024-25 regular season started with a league investigation into the player participation policy, which eventually resulted in a $100,000 fine for the organization's public comments from president Daryl Morey and coach Nick Nurse that did not properly reflect Embiid's health issues with his knee. The NBA also issued a three-game suspension to Embiid in early November for shoving a columnist in the locker room after a game in Philadelphia.
The situation around Embiid made it difficult for the Sixers to form any kind of identity, with George missing periods of time as well with groin, knee and finger injuries. George has needed treatment to navigate his injuries, with sources saying he received pain-killing injections for 4-5 consecutive games prior to the All-Star break.
The Cavs ignored the calls to break up their All-Star backcourt, and it's paying off
AS THE MOST important offseason of his career came to an end, Darius Garland took a break, heading to New York for Fashion Week in early September. Cleveland Cavaliers president of basketball operations Koby Altman, a Brooklyn native, happened to be visiting his hometown and reached out to the guard to set up an informal meeting.
The Cavaliers' business during a busy summer -- headlined by the hiring of coach Kenny Atkinson and signing perennial All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell to a three-year, $150 million contract extension -- had been handled a couple of months earlier.
Despite much anticipation around the NBA, Altman never entertained the possibility of exploring Garland's value in the trade market. Nor did Garland ever indicate a desire to leave Cleveland, contrary to the rumors that swirled in league circles that he hoped to step out of Mitchell's shadow.
While the possibility of a Garland trade was a frequent discussion point in the weeks following the Cavaliers' second-round playoff exit, it didn't amount to much more than white noise to him.
"It crossed my mind. Like just literally crossed it for like five seconds," Garland told ESPN when asked if he ever considered leaving his lone NBA franchise. "But I really love this group, man. It's like a real brotherhood. We've been together for three years now, four years now, and I really want to win here.
"I think this group has the opportunity to do something special and bring a championship back to Cleveland. And that's what I want to do."
It's a reasonable goal for the Cavaliers, who have the NBA's best record at 48-10 entering Friday night's road game against the defending champion Boston Celtics (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN). And in the wake of what Garland readily admits was a personally disappointing season -- when he dealt with the tragedy of his grandmother's death and the difficulty of returning from a broken jaw that had to be wired shut -- the guard has been a driving force in Cleveland's success, averaging 21.3 points and 6.7 assists during the best shooting season of his career, earning his second All-Star bid.
"He's looking like his old self again," said center Jarrett Allen, who is tethered to Garland in the Cavaliers' rotation.
Garland stressed his commitment to the Cavaliers when he got together with Altman a few weeks before training camp began. Altman emphasized that the franchise's belief never wavered in Garland, the original member of Cleveland's "Core Four" that also features big men Allen and Evan Mobley.
Altman was building on the message that Atkinson delivered when he visited Garland in Nashville, Tennessee, soon after accepting the job. It was a very intentional indication of Garland's importance by Atkinson, who had spent the previous three seasons as a Golden State Warriors assistant coach.
They discussed strategy, such as some of the ways the Warriors utilized Stephen Curry that Atkinson thought would benefit Garland. Despite the external discussion about whether the "Core Four" had fit issues, Atkinson made it apparent that he viewed Garland as a focal piece for years to come, along with the Cavaliers' other three foundational pieces.
"There's nothing wrong with reassurance," Rich Paul, the Klutch Sports CEO who represents Garland, told ESPN. "I thought Kenny was reading the room properly to make the effort to do so, because they have a great unit, and they have a group of guys that all like each other. On a professional team, that's not necessarily always the case."
FIVE YEARS EARLIER, Altman had selected Garland with the No. 5 pick in the 2019 draft despite having only 4 games of film to study from his freshman year at Vanderbilt, as a knee injury cut short his lone college season. It was a bet on the talent of a four-time state champion in high school who had wowed the Cavaliers' brass with his skill in a private workout.
That gamble on Garland paid off. He emerged as an All-Star as a 22-year-old in 2021-22, when he averaged 21.7 points and 8.6 assists as the young leader of a team that doubled its win total from the previous season, emboldening the front office to pull off a blockbuster trade for Mitchell in an attempt to expedite the process of building a contender in Cleveland. Garland put up similar numbers in his first campaign playing alongside Mitchell before his production dipped last season (18.0 PPG, 6.5 APG).
"He wanted to get back to an All-Star level and that was our job to help him get back there," Altman told ESPN. "It was our job to help him with the staff that was going to empower him again. But never once did Darius ever ask out, never once did Darius have an issue with Donovan, and never once did he have an issue with the organization.
"His issue was, like, how do I get back? I know I'm one of the best players in the league, one of the best guards in the league. How do I get back?"
Garland's summer started with the sour taste of a poor playoff performance in his mouth. He shot only 4-of-17 from the floor in an elimination loss to the Celtics.
Throughout the second-round series, Boston's big, physical perimeter defenders bullied Garland. His weight had dropped into the low 170s, about 20 pounds lower than normal, during the six weeks he spent sucking food through a straw while his jaw was wired shut after fracturing it in a Jan. 14 collision with Boston's Kristaps Porzingis.
"I'm getting beat up and getting pushed around out there," Garland said. "I didn't really feel like myself."
Garland's offseason priority was filling out his physique again, not finding an escape route.
"I wasn't really too focused on all the trade talks and a lot of people saying all the other stuff about me," Garland said. "Last year was just a tough year for myself, so I got away. I went out to L.A. just by myself almost damn near and just really locked in on my craft.
"It really helped me just mentally and physically to just get a clear mind, not try to worry about what all the other people are saying and Twitter fingers. Just trying to work on myself and try to get back to where I was before."
It's an approach that added to the immense respect for Garland inside the Cavaliers' locker room.
"In an era or day and age where so many kids push for different things to happen, to get a new start, he put his head down and grinded every single day this summer to come back and be prepared for what was coming forward," former Cavs forward Georges Niang, who was traded to the Atlanta Hawks at the deadline, told ESPN. "I'm happy for him because he deserves it. Because when he could have quit, he didn't. And he doubled down on his process and worked it through where a lot of kids his age could have easily been like, 'You know what? This isn't for me. I want to go somewhere else where it's easier.' And that's not the kind of kid that he is."
Mitchell could relate to how Garland felt after a disappointing playoff performance. He still winces when he recalls his second postseason in 2018-19, when he shot 32.1% from the floor while the Houston Rockets eliminated his Utah Jazz in five games. He vividly recalls being "locked up" by rugged Rockets defenders Eric Gordon, Luc Mbah a Moute and Trevor Ariza.
"I think when you're a young guy, you have to go through that season," Mitchell said. "Everybody, every person will tell you they've had that season in their career, and it changes you. It changes you for the better.
"I think everybody goes through that pivotal moment in their career. I don't want to say he failed. He just hasn't had as much success as he had really wanted in this situation. He fell short of that in his eyes, but also in everybody else's. So now you come back and respond in this way. I think it's perfect."
MANY SCOUTS, COACHES and executives with other teams suspected that a second-round exit was the ceiling for a Cleveland squad built around a pair of smallish, ball-dominant guards.
There was also rampant speculation that Garland wanted the opportunity to be the unquestioned primary ball handler, which would have required being traded after Mitchell agreed to the extension. But none of that was generated by Garland.
"Look, this is a young guy who could easily be like, 'Nah, this is my [team]. Who are you?'" Mitchell said. "And for him to be egoless and be able to take that step back, you enjoy playing with that. You want to build with that. You want to work with that on a day-to-day basis where it becomes selfless."
Mitchell's body paid a toll for carrying such a heavy offensive burden last season. A variety of injuries limited him to 55 games during the regular season, and Mitchell missed the Cavaliers' final two playoff games due to a calf strain.
Mitchell recognized that for the Cavaliers to become legitimate contenders, the 25-year-old Garland needed to return to his All-Star form. Mobley, 23, had to have a breakout campaign, which Mitchell and Garland agree has been the biggest catalyst to Cleveland's leap. Mitchell had to be willing to have the ball in his hands less often to empower his co-stars.
Mitchell leads the Cavaliers with 24.0 points per game, but that's his lowest scoring average since 2019-20, when he made the first of six straight All-Star appearances. His 31.1 minutes per game is a career low, which he hopes will help him have fresh legs for a deep playoff run.
"My numbers going down? Whatever. But that took time," Mitchell said, acknowledging that he would have struggled to accept a statistical dip earlier in his career.
Garland credits Mitchell's sacrifice for setting the cultural tone in Cleveland this season.
"I really tip my hat off to Don," Garland said. "He can be ultra-aggressive and go out there and get 30 whenever he wants to, but he really believes in us. That's why I told him when he first got here: 'Just trust us.'"
It's a trust that has been formed over the past few years and strengthened over the summer. Mitchell visited Garland in Los Angeles early in the offseason so they could work out together. Garland made a trip to Mitchell's summer base in Miami later for a couple more days of joint sessions. And they've studied film, often with Atkinson, to figure out how they could enhance each other's games instead of getting caught up in taking turns operating with the ball.
"It's one thing to be great talents, but it's another thing to be great dudes," Paul said. "When you got two ball-dominant players, they have to get a rhythm. In any relationship it takes the effort, no matter if it's personal or business. It takes the effort to stay consistently successful. Those two guys have come out, checked their egos at the door and it's really shown that, 'Hey, this thing could work now.'"
The Dominican Republic has chosen former St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Angels star Albert Pujols as its next manager for the 2026 World Baseball Classic and will make the announcement official sometime in March, sources told ESPN.
Pujols, a three-time MLB MVP, managed Leones del Escogido to the Dominican League and Caribbean Series titles this year in his managerial debut.
Nelson Cruz, the Dominican team's general manager, and a special adviser for MLB baseball operations, plans to make an official announcement before the end of March, sources said.
"We are in the middle of the process, but we will soon reveal who was chosen," Cruz told Rojas.
Pujols will take over for Rodney Linares, who is the Tampa Bay Rays' third base coach.
Pujols, who concluded an illustrious 22-season MLB career in 2022 with 703 home runs, was a member of the Dominican Republic team in the first edition of the World Baseball Classic in 2006. The Dominicans were eliminated by Cuba in the semifinal round.
The Dominican Republic won the WBC in 2013, finishing unbeaten at 8-0, under the management of Tony Peña, who again managed the team in 2017. Manny Acta was the manager in 2006, Felipe Alou in 2009 and Linares in 2023.
Before accepting the role of manager in his country's winter league, Pujols, 45, had worked in television and served as a special assistant to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and the Angels' management.
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