Rest In Peace Claude Lemieux

Claude Lemieux died yesterday at the age of 60 in an apparent suicide.  He was part of four Stanley Cup Champion teams; he also won the Conn Smythe Trophy – – the Stanley Cup MVP award – – in 1995.  His style of play might have been described as “aggressive”, but that may have been an understatement.

Rest in peace, Claude Lemieux.

In a small note in what is left of the Washington Post sports section this morning, it says that the NBA draft lottery will undergo “major changes”.  The Post seems to be catching up with others in the sports world here; the “major change” is one reported as the leading contender to further the NBA’s objective of canceling out tanking for draft picks.  Here is the new draft lottery system that will go into effect at the end of next year’s regular season:

• The Draft will now encompass 16 teams – – the ten that miss the playoffs entirely plus the teams that lose out in the play-in round.
• The three worst teams will have a 5.4% chance of getting the top pick
• The fourth through tenth teams will have an 8.1% chance at the top pick
• The eleventh through sixteenth teams will have a 4.5% chance at the top pick.

The NBA Board of Governors voted 29-1 to adopt this system; the lone negative vote came from the Memphis Grizzlies.

There are wrinkles in what seems to be a simple – – and perhaps simple-minded – – change here.  According to SI.com such as this one:

“The league will have expanded disciplinary authority to address tanking, including the ability to reduce teams’ lottery odds, modify teams’ draft positions and impose significant fines on offending teams.”

If I read that correctly that translates to Commissioner Adam Silver now having the authority to mete out punishments to teams when he sees situations that he defines as “tanking”.  If that is the case, there could be some interesting fallout down the line.  There are also provisions disallowing a team from drafting in the Top 5 three years in a row.  So, the randomness of the ping pong balls is considered insufficient to determine draft order?  My head hurts …

Moving on …  In the English Premier League, they do not have a draft to assist the bottom three teams; in the EPL, they relegate those teams down to a lower-level league – – called the Championship.  This year, the final relegation team was determined on the final day of the season.  Burnley and Wolves were both sure to be relegated but it took a win by the Tottenham Hotspurs in the final game to keep them in the EPL and send West Ham down to the Championship.

The EPL has an interesting way of determining which three teams will replace the relegated squads in the EPL.  The top two finishers in the Championship are automatically promoted but the third slot is given to the winner of a mini-tournament involving the third place through sixth place finishers in the Championship.  This year, Coventry City and Ipswich Town were automatic promotees; Hull City finished sixth in the Championship but won that mini-playoff and will be in the EPL starting in the Fall.

Switching gears …  I just learned that AJ Bown and DK Metcalf were teammates at Ole Miss.  Both WRs were there for three years from 2016-2018.  The Rebels’ record in those three seasons was a cumulative 16-20 with no bowl appearances.  The two questions floating around in my mind now is:

1. How did those teams not score 40+ points per game?
2. How did college defenders cover both of those WRs at the same time?

Finally, words of wisdom from Warren Buffet:

“When a management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………