I Dig Sports
Essex's own Bobby Dazzler gets their Blast season up and running
Essex 196 for 7 (Das 69, Khushi 34, Westley 31*) beat Gloucestershire 195 for 7 (Charlesworth 52, Dent 33) by three wickets
"There is a lot of scope for things to go better but I guess I've had worse weeks," Das said. "I am really happy with how the week has gone and hopefully can keep the ball rolling and keep the momentum going.
"It is very pleasing to contribute with Feroze. I have played with him since club cricket at the age of 13 or 14. It is nice to play with those players you grew up with and shows a really strength to our club; players coming through the pathways and into the first team."
Essex and Gloucestershire hadn't bowled a ball at each other at the Cloud County Ground, Chelmsford since 2016, following an incredible run of five consecutive washouts. Essex had also delayed the start of their Blast season due to the Ireland clash.
Former Eagles Grant Roelofson and Chris Dent got Gloucestershire off to a strong start in the powerplay - 61 for 1 - but the former feathering an edge behind saw them stall.
Miles Hammond and Dent fell in the following two overs, with Ollie Price bowled soon after, leaving the visitors on 80 for 4 just past the halfway point. But after an unspectacular start, where he was dropped on 13 and had 20 off his first 13 balls, Charlesworth went into hyperdrive.
He took Matt Critchley for two consecutive sixes on the leg side before tearing into Sam Cook. Two fours through mid-on were followed by two maximums over deep square - one on the back foot, the other flicked off the front - to take him to his half-century.
Next ball, Cook had the last laugh by finding his edge. James Bracey heaved his first ball for six - which made it 47 runs in 12 balls for Gloucestershire - but next ball he picked out long off, with Jack Taylor coming and going in the same Daniel Sams over.
Danny Lamb, who arrived on a short-term loan from Lancashire before the match, crashed a four and a six off the last over to take Gloucestershire to an imposing 195 for 7.
Fast bowler de Lange had Adam Rossington caught at deep midwicket with his third ball but pulled out of his delivery stride before bowling another ball before walking out of proceedings.
Khushi had already pinged de Lange back over his head before repeating the trick twice off Tom Smith's spin. But he fell to a stunning catch at short third as Essex blasted 72 for 2 in the powerplay.
Das showed his classy shot-making against Ireland but proved his outright power for a small man with 11 fours and sixes straight and over midwicket. His maiden T20 fifty came in 27 balls, although he had earned a life when dropped on 38. He may not have even played had Michael Pepper not suffered a knock in a Second XI match.
The Eagles were well ahead of the rate but were pegged back when Critchley slogged to long-on and Das top-edged a slog-sweep.
Walter was bowled by Price, Sams chopped to short fine and Simon Harmer clubbed to long-on, but Westley eased to the conclusion to condemn Gloucestershire to a third defeat in four.
Somerset emerge from paywall and showers as South Group's top dogs
Somerset 154 (Lammonby 34, Agar 3-18, Hogan 3-33) beat Kent 112 (Green 3-19) by 13 runs via DLS method
Somerset's 154 had always resembled a defendable score on a seaming pitch and, as squally showers increasingly played havoc on a cold Canterbury night, they held their nerve impressively in the field to claim their fourth successive win and maintain their position at the top of South Group.
Kent had never really threatened as Somerset's experienced seamers jousted for the delivery of the night. Henry's break-back to bowl Joe Denly came close but it was probably shaded by Peter Siddle's away-seamer to strike Daniel Bell-Drummond's off stump. Sam Billings shaped better than most until he made room against Lewis Gregory and his off stump also went flying.
Kent threw free t-shirts into the crowd during the match, but winter coats would have been a more appropriate offering on a showery and chilly night. Online coverage was a persuasive option - it would have set you back £5.99, though. Kent don't have a reputation as one of county cricket's natural innovators, but they have become the first club to risk what will surely be an inevitable outcome: they are charging for their in-house coverage of the Vitality Blast.
If county cricket's tie-up with BBC radio commentary has been a symbiotic relationship that has helped to promote the county game like never before, financial imperatives will surely mean that, in T20, Kent's experiment will soon be adopted by others. They are a curious outlier as, according to Wisden Cricketers Almanack, their coverage was the third least-watched among the counties in 2022, although those figures were not helped by a disappointing season in which they finished bottom of South Group.
As the quality of in-house coverage has improved, so have the costs and if free coverage of Championship cricket remains a highly persuasive loss-leader that it would be foolish to abandon, then T20 is a different animal. For a modest outlay, it was possible to receive professional coverage, fronted by an experienced broadcaster and former captain, Dave Fulton, who had the know-how to keep home favouritism to acceptable levels. Away supporters can watch Kent's coverage without calling for the sick bag.
Shane Burger, Somerset's assistant coach, emphasised the importance of his side's doughty attitude in the field. "There was never a moan, there was always a mindset of trying to get out there and play cricket. I think many a team would try to get off the field rather than play. People were slipping over and the ball was wet but full credit to the guys. It just shows what you can do if you have the right mindset."
Banton, whose reputation has taken a battering in the past two years, has had a good start to the season, but his attempt to hit Michael Hogan inside-out, up the slope, came to grief. Kohler-Cadmore's talent reel included 20 off one over from Joe Denly until he failed with a blow down the ground. Denly's two overs cost 29 and hindsight suggested an introductory over should have been enough on such a night.
Agar's stay at Kent has been extended for a further two months as cover for Kane Richardson and George Linde, and he gained an immediate opportunity after Richardson withdrew because of an unspecified illness. Another quick bowler, India's Arshdeep Singh, is also scheduled to play red-ball cricket in June and July.
His T20 experience is sound enough: although not capped by Australia, he is a Big Bash winner with Adelaide Strikers and his career-best 4 for 6 came in the notable BBL match in December when Strikers dismissed Sydney Thunder were dismissed for just 15 runs. His 3 for 18 will do for a start.
That Somerset reached 154 was due primarily to Lammonby's restrained 34 from 31. He fell to his first adventurous moment. The "five overs left" bell rang in his head; he shuffled outside off stump for a pre-meditated scoop and Grant Stewart followed him shrewdly to force a catch at the wicket.
An over of strong-arming against Hogan by Roelof van der Merwe helped Somerset to a competitive score, a sequence in which Jordan Cox once again encouraged the belief that he is an T20 outfielder to rival anybody in the world. In narrowly failing to pull off a brilliant relay catch with Denly, and again flinging himself to the ground later in the over, he turned a six and a four into a couple of twos. On many a night, those six runs would have been crucial. Not this night.
David Hopps writes on county cricket for ESPNcricinfo @davidkhopps
Yorkshire break nine-month winless run by sneaking past Notts
Yorkshire 182 for 7 (Malan 95*, Masood 34, Brooks 4-51) beat Nottinghamshire 174 for 4 (Hales 53, Munro 46) by eight runs
"There were a lot of nerves at the end but Jordan Thompson bowled a fantastic last over to get us over the line," Ottis Gibson, Yorkshire's coach, said. "We have been struggling a bit for wins without playing as badly as the results might suggest and and we are hoping the confidence the players draw from that will set us up nicely for another big game, a Roses game, on Thursday night.
"When you win the toss and bat, you need someone to bat through the innings for you and Malan is one of the best in England and played a really a good innings. We had spoken about needing one of the top four to bat through the innings and he took it upon himself to do that tonight."
Yorkshire posted a modest 41 for 2 in the powerplay, losing two wickets in the space of four deliveries in the sixth over as Adam Lyth and debutant Will Luxton departed in similar fashion, each trying to hit over the infield but succeeding only in launching the ball vertically, Matt Carter and Colin Munro respectively combining safe hands with a steady eye as Brooks celebrated his first two wickets.
The right-arm seamer, who turns 39 next Sunday, had seen his first over against his former county go for 17 runs as Malan and Lyth went on the attack and it was little wonder his wickets brought animated celebrations.
Masood joined Malan in plundering 50 runs in 35 balls but the Pakistan international, having cleared the rope a couple of balls earlier, holed out to Lyndon James on the leg-side boundary.
Malan missed few chances to score but lost another partner as Wiese picked out long-off, handing veteran spinner Samit Patel his 200th T20 wicket for Outlaws, and at 122 for 4 from 15, Yorkshire needed some acceleration.
It came in the last three overs, which contained another two fatal miscues off Brooks and one off Shaheen Shah Afridi but a feisty 15 in 6 balls from Ben Mike and 17 off the last Brooks over, including a fourth six for Malan, just clearing the fielder at long-off.
Outlaws were marginally in front at 48 from the powerplay, having lost Joe Clarke to a steepling top edge in the second over and though they were slightly behind the required rate at 78 for 1 from 10, the second-wicket pair were still together, Hales completing 50 from 30 balls with his eighth boundary, although Munro had an escape on 24 when his pull fell just short of deep backward square.
That changed in the 13th over, when Hales edged Wiese straight into the hands of Luxton at backward point. He and Munro had added 84 but Outlaws needed 84 from 47 balls and needed to maintain momentum.
Fortunately for them, Montgomery was into his stride immediately, a couple of streaky boundaries followed by a clean hit six into the Fox Round stand off Dom Bess. Nonetheless, the pressure was still on with 54 required at the start of the last five overs and it was cranked up still more as Munro holed out to long-on.
The loss of the big-hitting left-hander in a tight over from Jordan Thompson turned out to be a crucial scalp for the Vikings, with every subsequent dot ball turning the screw on Outlaws, who suffered another blow when Montgomery hit Mike straight to extra cover, although with 26 still needed from just eight balls the game by then was effectively won.
Hazlewood hopeful of WTC final: 'My fitness is pretty good'
Hazlewood played just three matches in the IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore after arriving to the tournament late due to an Achilles issue that saw him miss Australia's entire four-match Test series with India in February and March and the three-match ODI series that followed.
The decision to withdraw Hazlewood from the IPL early was precautionary and scans cleared him of any damage to his side. He has suffered two side strains in the past two years which saw him miss four Tests in the 2021-22 home Ashes series and then three more last summer against West Indies and South Africa.
But he was able to bowl at home in Sydney before travelling with the team to England last week. The squad held their first official training session in England on Tuesday in Formby in West Lancashire where Hazlewood went at close to full tilt having had a gentle bowl on his own shortly after arriving in England.
He told the ICC that he is close to full fitness but would need to get through a week's worth of bowling to be declared fit to play in the WTC final against India starting next Wednesday at the Oval in London.
"My fitness is pretty good," Hazlewood said. "It is just a matter of ticking off every session from here until that date basically.
"In T20 you are bowling a lot of various different balls every over. A wide yorker to a bouncer to a slower ball, and [the side] just got jammed up a little bit and a bit of scar tissue from previous injuries flared up.
"It calmed down pretty quickly. I had a week off, I didn't quite get back to going 100 percent at [the] IPL, but the last few bowls have been good and I have been building up nicely."
Australia began their UK tour in Lancashire with a golf trip that included a training session at Formby on Tuesday before heading to London on Wednesday where they will hold a three-day camp at Beckenham.
Hazlewood will likely have to get through two solid bowling sessions on Thursday and Saturday if he's any chance to play in the WTC final. Australia will train at the Oval on Monday and Tuesday and the quicks often have another solid bowling session two days out from a Test match before resting the day prior to the match.
Australia's side will be settled for the WTC final outside of the decision between Hazlewood and Boland, with Pat Cummins returning to captain the team after missing the last two Tests in India for family reasons. Mitchell Starc is fully fit having played as the lone quick in Australia's final two Tests in India after missing the first two due to a finger injury.
Hazlewood has only played four of Australia's last 19 Test matches and has not played in back-to-back first-class games since early 2021. He was aware that six Tests in seven weeks would be a big ask for the fast bowlers to undertake despite a desire to play every game.
"If you asked that question three years ago I probably would have said I would have liked to play all six Tests, but it is just different now," Hazlewood said. "It is just so tightly consumed together now and coming off not an ideal build-up, it is getting there now.
"But we have got enough quicks here and a couple of others playing county cricket to cover all bases. Pat is perhaps looking at all six potentially depending how much we bowl in each so you play it by ear a little bit. It is such a dense schedule, it is tough."
Alex Malcolm is an Associate Editor at ESPNcricinfo
'We can work harder and that's our job' - Amelia Kerr expects NZC deal to change the game for women
"For a while, we have had half the team full-time professionals, and half balancing cricket and work. To have everyone as full-time professionals allows us to invest more in our cricket and that's so important," Kerr said during New Zealand's camp ahead of the tour of Sri Lanka. "We want to perform and the only way to get better is if we can train every day and put our focus into that.
"It is good to have balance outside of it. Having full-time professional athletes means we can work harder and that's our job - we turn up every day and that's what we are meant to do."
"How many people we were playing in front of was pretty incredible"
Amelia Kerr on the WPL experience
Before that, Kerr had been on the road for large parts. She was part of New Zealand's bronze-medal finish at the Commonwealth Games last August, which was followed by stints in the Hundred and the WBBL. She also toured West Indies, played Bangladesh at home and then the T20 World Cup in South Africa earlier this year before the WPL.
"I am not one to always take that break, but it was a pretty full-on year last year," Kerr said. "To be a part of the WPL and playing there and to see how much they love cricket over in India, the crowd… how many people we were playing in front of was pretty incredible and an amazing tournament to be a part of. The passion and love India has and going over there to play cricket is one of the best experiences you will get."
"To play alongside them and to see how they go about their business and how they train and prepare are all valuable learning experiences for me. [It is] also nice to play with a group of different people as well and learn how to connect and gel with not much time before you are into game one."
"The WPL is a valuable tournament and it's also life-changing," she said. "It's only going to improve women's cricket around the world. It's nice to have opportunities around the world to grow your game.
"It's all quite confronting - your value is determined by someone else and what your worth [is]. At the end of the day, it's just an opinion and you've got to know what you think of yourself as a cricketer. The most important thing is how you are as a person is pretty subjective. It's someone else's opinion and doesn't define you. You can go out there and do your best to prove people wrong."
Smart says SEC schedule 'most overrated' debate
DESTIN, Fla. -- Kirby Smart sounded ready to be done with the Southeastern Conference's great schedule debate.
"The most overrated conversation in the world," the Georgia coach said Tuesday.
As is tradition, the Southeastern Conference took over a resort hotel on the Florida Gulf Coast for its spring meetings this week. The hottest topic is what the nation's toughest football conference plans to do with its schedule starting in the 2024 season when Texas and Oklahoma join to make it a 16-team league with no divisions.
The options are sticking with an eight-game slate but shifting to one annual rivalry game instead of the current two, or going to nine games with three annual rivals. The SEC has been trying to figure this out for more than a year.
"I'm a history teacher by trade," Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz told reporters. "And every time I come to one of these meetings I'm blown away that the 13 colonies actually formed a union, but we can't agree on an eight- or nine-game schedule."
Either way, punting divisions fixes one big problem for the SEC: infrequent meetings between some league members.
The most glaring example: Texas A&M has played Georgia just once since joining the SEC in 2012, and the Aggies are still awaiting a visit to College Station by the Bulldogs.
"Four years, you will play everybody, home and away," said Smart, whose team has won two straight national titles. "I get the traditional rivalries, you have three, you have two, you have one. You have this, you have that. You guys need something to write about bad when you start talking about this."
Despite Smart's ambivalence, the eight-or-nine conversation does matter a lot to fans.
With an eight-game schedule that protects only one annual opponent, Auburn-Georgia -- the Deep South's oldest rivalry, played 127 times -- Alabama-Tennessee and maybe the renewal of the Texas-Texas A&M rivalry are among the notable matchups likely to become every-other-year games.
Aggies coach Jimbo Fisher said when the Longhorns arrive, he would like Texas A&M's annual rival to be Texas. But that would mean shelving Texas-Oklahoma every other year.
"LSU's become a great rivalry for us," Fisher said. "But as you go traditional rivalries of A&M you'd say Texas."
While LSU coach Brian Kelly stopped short of fully committing to a number of conference games, he said he wouldn't want to give up playing Alabama every year, and the only way to do that would be with a nine-game conference schedule.
The SEC football coaches and athletic directors met separately on Tuesday and will gather together Wednesday with the hope of finally coming to a decision before meetings wrap up on Friday.
Drinkwitz is one of the few coaches to take a stand, siding with nine.
Kentucky's Mark Stoops is probably the most vocal supporter of sticking with eight, noting that the school's annual in-state rivalry with Louisville of the Atlantic Coast Conference means the Wildcats are already locked into at least nine games against Power 5 opponents.
"I'm a history teacher by trade. And every time I come to one of these meetings I'm blown away that the 13 colonies actually formed a union, but we can't agree on an eight- or nine-game schedule." Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz
There is no guarantee the schedule question will be settled this week. Commissioner Greg Sankey has said there is still time for more consideration. He even acknowledged the possibility of a short-term solution, landing on a model but with a commitment to it for only a year or two.
Sankey met with football coaches Tuesday to discuss a multitude of topics, including the schedule.
"I sensed a trust level in our decision-making process," Sankey said.
Alabama coach Nick Saban has promoted playing schedules with nothing but Power 5 schools and seemed to be a supporter of nine conference games over the past year.
Now, he seems concerned about what it might mean for Alabama's nonconference schedule in coming years. The Tide have home-and-home series with Wisconsin, Florida State, Ohio State and Notre Dame -- among others -- scheduled between 2024 and 2030.
"If we go to nine games, we'll have to unwind that," Saban said. "My deal has always been to play more SEC games because we couldn't get more people to schedule. So now I think there are more people who are willing to schedule. So having a balance is probably most important."
Sankey has said he would like to "land the plane" this week, but he also recalled the last time the SEC expanded. Texas A&M and Missouri were granted membership in the fall of 2011 and began playing in 2012, giving the conference less than a year to figure out the football schedule.
"So we got a lot of reserves in the wings of that airplane," Sankey said. "But we're going to be more timely than that."
Butler offered Gauff Finals tickets before playoffs
PARIS -- As she plots her 2023 French Open charge, Coco Gauff has been taking inspiration from the confidence of Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat's improbable run to the NBA Finals.
Gauff overcame a tricky first-round matchup with Rebeka Masarova 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 on Tuesday and said the Heat's resilience helped her. Miami built a 3-0 series lead in the Eastern Conference finals before the Boston Celtics rallied to force a Game 7. On Monday night, the Heat crushed the Celtics 103-84 to win the series.
"Honestly, today, I told myself if Jimmy Butler didn't freak out when they were up 3-0 and all of a sudden it's 3-all, then I shouldn't freak out after losing the first set," Gauff said on court after her win.
Since the game started at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday morning in Paris, Gauff said she did not stay up to watch the game.
"First thing I did this morning was look at the results," Gauff said. "Very relieved. I kind of held my breath."
Butler and Gauff have spoken before and the Heat star attended Gauff's match at the Miami Open in March. Even before the NBA season ended, Butler was exuding confidence in the team's ability to make the NBA Finals despite the odds being stacked against them.
"This was before [the Heat] were in the playoffs. ... He offered me tickets to see the last home game of the [regular] season," Gauff said. "Then he DM'd me a couple weeks later, asking if I wanted more tickets to see the postseason. I said, 'I won't be here. I'll be in Madrid and then Rome and then France."
"And then he said, OK, when we make the Finals, let me know if your family wants some tickets. So, this was before we were even in the playoffs. This is before we lost to the Hawks for the first play-in game. I just felt like I knew that -- everybody is like we have a 3% chance of making the Finals, but when he sent me that, I knew we were making the Finals because he didn't say, 'if we make the Finals,' he said, 'when we make the Finals.'"
Gauff had not shared the interaction prior to the team reaching the Finals. It wasn't the first time Butler made the prediction.
"We had enough, next year we will have enough..."
"We're gonna be right back in this same situation, and we're gonna get it done."
Jimmy Butler EXACTLY 1 year ago today after the Heat were eliminated in the ECF. pic.twitter.com/891Rkdrh3D
— NBA (@NBA) May 30, 2023
"But I remember screenshotting it and sending it to my family and I was, like, 'Oh, we're going, we're going to the Finals.'
"He pretty much said we were going to the Finals before [Miami] even qualified for the playoffs, and I just really like that mentality of him."
DENVER -- The Miami Heat are just the second eighth seed in history to reach the NBA Finals, but Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone told his players on Tuesday to throw the seeding out.
Malone says their meeting against the relentless Heat will be the greatest challenge the Nuggets have ever faced.
"You get to the NBA Finals, it's not about seeding anymore," Malone said after practice. "And for those who are thinking that this is going to be an easy series, I don't even know what to say to you people.
"This is going to be the biggest challenge of our lives. This is the NBA Finals. You're trying to win the first NBA championship in franchise history, and it's going to be the hardest thing that we've ever done -- which is the way it should be."
The Nuggets have not played since completing their sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference finals on May 22. But Tuesday was the first day they could focus their sights on the Heat and how to slow down Jimmy Butler.
After getting by Minnesota's Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns in the first round, Phoenix's Devin Booker and Kevin Durant in the second round and the Lakers' LeBron James and Anthony Davis in the conference finals, the Nuggets have to figure out how to contain Butler.
Butler is averaging 28.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 5.7 assists and shooting 48.3% from the field. But Malone said Butler is so much more than just stats.
"When I look at Jimmy Butler, what separates him from most players is the drive -- the competitive spirit within him, a relentless attack," Malone said. "It was really cool seeing the press conference they showed from last year when they lost and how everything he talked about in that moment kind of came to fruition a year later, and he has this team back in the Finals.
"What makes Jimmy hard to guard is, we know he's talented, he's big, he's strong, he can get to his spots on the court, but he has the gift of drawing fouls and getting to the free throw line. But he's a big-moment player. He's not scared. He's tough. He's relentless, and he's a warrior."
Aaron Gordon has had success defending top scoring options for the Nuggets this postseason. But Gordon said he knows he will have his hands full with Butler if the assignment falls to him. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Bruce Brown could also see time defending Butler.
"Jimmy is a difficult cover for different reasons than the guys I've guarded in the past like KD, LeBron, KAT," Gordon said. "Jimmy does everything. He does all the intangible things. He gets out in transition. He gets cuts. He gets offensive rebounds. He gets backdoors. He gets spinouts. He does a lot of the game within the game, as well as being really skilled. He's a difficult cover.
"Just make it tough for him, play without fouling to the best of my ability and just compete."
In the second round against Phoenix, the Nuggets had trouble slowing Booker, especially in the midrange. Booker averaged 30.8 points, 7.8 assists and 56.9% shooting. But Denver held the Suns scorer to a total of 40 points and a combined 12-for-32 shooting in the final two wins of that series to eliminate Phoenix.
Like Booker, Butler likes to get downhill and do damage in the midrange.
"He's been going crazy," Gordon said. "I don't really set targets for like [how many] points [to hold him to]. I just want to make it as difficult as I possibly can for him all night long for 48, through an entire series.
"Just making everything that he gets tough. Make him work for everything. ... If he gets to his 27 [point] mark but he takes however many shots, it's a win."
Since seeding began in 1984, the Heat are the first eight seed to reach the NBA Finals since the New York Knicks in 1999. But the Nuggets are not underestimating them.
"We've got the utmost respect for them," Gordon said. "They fight and they scrap, and they have no quit in them. They play through 48 minutes a game and more if necessary. They play fearless. They play disciplined. They're well-coached and have some guys that have been there before and have some guys that have chips on their shoulder.
"We're not looking at the seeding or the story around it. This is a very talented basketball team, professional basketball team, and all those guys over there got game. So we respect it."
SAN FRANCISCO -- Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob couldn't fathom why Bob Myers -- his general manager and president for the last 12 years -- would decide to step down.
"I'm not going to sit here and tell you I understand it because I don't," Lacob said as he sat adjacent to Myers in a news conference at Chase Center on Tuesday.
It had been just about four hours since Myers told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski that he would be leaving his position when his contract expires at the end of June.
"But it's really not for me to understand why. I just want him to be happy," Lacob continued.
Myers' decision took a lot of factors into account, including wanting to spend more time with his family. He squashed the notion that it was because of the Warriors' turbulent and mediocre season.
"If the team wins the championship, would you leave? I think, yes," Myers said. He told Wojnarowski it wasn't about money, saying he declined ownership offers on a new deal that would've paid him in the same range as the league's top-earning executives. It's not for a new position waiting for him -- he said he will take a moment to sit still before making his next move.
"The bottom line is, this job, the one I'm in ... requires complete engagement, a complete effort, a thousand percent, and if you can't do it, then you shouldn't do it," Myers said. "So that's the answer to the question of why. I can't do that to our players. I can't do that to Joe and Peter [Guber]. Really, I can't do it to myself. And that's the question I've been wrestling with."
The natural next question the Warriors face is: Where do they go from here?
At Tuesday's news conference, Lacob wouldn't address any clear plans for Myers' successor. But, Lacob is expected to seek more prominent roles for his son, Kirk, an executive vice president of basketball operations, and VP of basketball operations Mike Dunleavy Jr., according to Wojnarowski. The conversations to promote from within -- particularly Dunleavy and the younger Lacob -- have been ongoing for weeks as the team braced for the true possibility that Myers would leave.
"[Dunleavey is] as good a GM, if he wants it, it will be great," Myers said.
"I will say that we do have a very strong organization, and there's a good possibility it could be an internal candidate," Lacob said. "But haven't made a decision, so can't really give you an answer. We are going to work on that."
The plan to promote from within also stems from a possible inability to land an external big-time general manager, as power struggles within the Warriors become an issue, particularly between front office and ownership, sources said. The power dynamic will continue to evolve and become less separated as the Warriors franchise could become more of a family business.
Lacob said he will continue to work with Myers through the end of his contract in late June. However, it is unclear who will take on the lead role during the draft process with the draft taking place on June 22. Myers said he would be operating in a support role.
"We'll make a decision as soon as we can, but I want to make sure that we make the right decision, and if it happens in a week, great. If it happens in a month, great," Lacob said. "We'll make that decision through the natural course, have the right process. I think we are preparing for the draft and free agency and all those things regardless, and we'll be ready."
Whoever is tapped to fill Myers' shoes has a big job waiting for them as the Warriors enter what is the most important offseason the franchise has gone through in recent history.
Draymond Green has a player $27.6 million player option waiting for him which, if he turns down, will make him an unrestricted free agent. Klay Thompson is about to enter the final year of his contract. The same goes for head coach Steve Kerr. And then there is replenishing their depth as they work with an already sky-high salary and new CBA rules that will only make it tougher on them.
"The truth is, we have a lot of work to do," Lacob said. "We are going to win no matter what. I don't care what the rules are. We are going to figure out a way to do it. That's what good organizations do."
The New York Knicks will not extend the contract of general manager Scott Perry, sources told ESPN, confirming multiple reports.
Perry, who was on an expiring contract, worked under president Leon Rose and executive vice president William Wesley this season, as the resurgent Knicks qualified for the playoffs and advanced to the second round. Perry had been general manager since 2017-18.
The Knicks were already among the most intriguing teams of the offseason, and a search for a new general manager only heightens the buzz.
The Knicks do not have a first-round pick this summer, but they have their own first-round choice in the next six drafts, plus four additional first-rounders from prior deals if they want to travel into the trade market. Young stalwarts such as RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, Quentin Grimes and Mitchell Robinson could be enticing trade options for teams as well.
Recruiting a star to New York City hasn't exactly been easy (or fruitful) over the past decade. But the assets and players are there, and what remains to be seen is two-fold: Which stars might become available this year, and how much would Knicks management be willing to part with if and when it happens? Questions a new GM will have to now answer.
New York finished 47-35 before defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round. The Knicks then lost to the eventual Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat in the semifinals.
Newsday first reported the Knicks' decision on Perry.
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