MILWAUKEE – DeMar DeRozan knows Jrue Holiday all too well.
The Bulls veteran knows the way Holiday likes to defend him, knows his tendencies, and has seen every move the Milwaukee point guard has in his arsenal.
DeRozan should. He’s been witness to it since both of them were 11 year olds making a name for themselves in the Los Angeles area.
“Every time we played against each other it was always memorable,” DeRozan said on Wednesday. “In high school we played with each other multiple times in tournaments. Jrue was always one of my favorite players to compete against, and obviously we played against each other in college, so it goes way back to when we were 11 and 12 for sure.”
Holiday went to Campbell Hall High School and then UCLA, while DeRozan was Compton’s finest, playing for Compton High School and then signing with UCLA’s backyard rival at USC.
And even after all these years, all the matchups on the same team or opposite sides, Holiday still has the ability to make life uncomfortable for not only DeRozan, but whoever he has to guard.
“Some people are just gifted to have awareness, quickness, feel, anticipation,” DeRozan said. “All the things he shows now he’s had that. He’s just one of those players that’s gifted to do the thing he does defensively.
“AAU basketball, through high school, I knew his family, he knew my family, so we go way back to when we were kids. He doesn’t talk much. He just goes out there and does whatever he needs to in order to compete. That’s just who he is.”
So is that why DeRozan was a dismal 6-for-25 in the Game 1 loss?
Not necessarily. Yes, Holiday did match up with DeRozan a good amount, but so did Wesley Matthews and even a bit of Khris Middleton.
That’s what makes this series difficult for both DeRozan and Zach LaVine. Holiday might be the stopper of the group, and they can throw him on either Bulls scorer, but Matthews is also an irritant on the defensive end.
According to DeRozan, the key for the rest of the series will be matching that defensive intensity that Holiday & Co. bring or expect to plan an early vacation.
“It’s one of those times where you’ve got to go through it to kind of feel and understand what it’s really like,” DeRozan said. “Now you have a better idea of how to approach it [after Game 1] and dig even deeper physically and mentally.”
Ball-ing out
Lonzo Ball was still trying to help his teammates out as much as he could as an injured bystander, but the point guard was still dealing with discomfort in the left knee, according to coach Billy Donovan.
Ball was ruled out for the rest of the season earlier this month, and now the questions are how much longer will the bone bruise be an issue before the team can start getting him ready for an offseason training program?
“The biggest thing they have to deal with is how to get away from the pain,” Donovan said. “That’s the thing they’re trying to do, to get rid of the discomfort. I’m not sure how long that takes. There has been a plan laid out as far as time here [in Chicago], time in [Los Angeles], how do we manage the situation and get him back to being healthy and feeling good?
“If it gets to a place where he’s still having discomfort after a longer period of time, I don’t know what the next step would be.”
By Kelley Lauginiger // @Peapodmcgee,
today at 5:06 pm
*All photos by Kelley Lauginiger unless otherwise noted.
Last week, comedian, actress and author Molly Shannon took the stage to a full house of raucous applause for an hour-long Q&A about her new memoir, “Hello Molly!” Fellow comedian, SNL alum and friend, Chicago native Tim Meadows interviewed and moderated the event. Randolph Street’s Harris Theater for Music and Dance hosted the Chicago Humanities Festival (CHF) soiree, with its subterranean stage sneaking by on your right like a cyclist on the lake path. I swear I’ve walked past it about 200 times without realizing, but this was my night to finally go inside and get educated.
Fans waited outside in the rain hours before the show to pick the best seats in the house.
My feelings about “An Evening with Molly Shannon and Tim Meadows” can best be expressed in a monologue by author and comedian Molly Shannon herself, from this very evening. When asked if she gets sick of doing her ‘Superstar move,’ she said, “I could do it every day, 50 times a day! I never get sick of it!”
In the spirit of Molly Shannon being the most adorable, clever and hilarious famous human, let’s do this in the cutest composition style: acrostic.
M aking People Laugh
So affable, bubbly and spirited, it seems rare to find Molly Shannon in a bad mood -at least outwardly. Perhaps it is true that the people who have been through the most in life, never want others to feel badly, and inclusion through laughter is certainly Shannon’s approach. “Hello Molly!” shares personal stories about waitressing and selling gym memberships to pay tuition throughout college at NYU’s Tisch drama program, all to get the chance to make people laugh.
Though she worried the wealthier students were able to take better advantage of all that college had to offer without full-time jobs, this grind ultimately led to her breakout performance: a clown using a fake penis as a prop. Shannon’s entire acting class grade would be based on this performance, dressed as an Italian Arlecchino. “It should not be too rehearsed, and should be spontaneous and organic,” Shannon said in her memoir. “The day came and I had not rehearsed at all. The only think I had done was sew my fake penis, which I have to say was really fun!” Ultimately, she made the class cry laughing, got a standing ovation and “found herself as an artist and a performer.” She learned she could make people “really laugh,” and not to over-rehearse for her personal style. As noted in the book, this is precisely what she ended up doing years later on SNL, but she didn’t yet know she was building the foundation. It was always about making people laugh.
Molly Shannon as Jeannie Darcy, SNL
Toward the end of her Chicago Q&A she touched on her character “Jeannie Darcy,” who she performed on SNL just before leaving show. Darcy displayed many negative tropes of a “female comic,” from raunchy vibrator jokes to period banter. Darcy often performed in ridiculous settings like a nursing home where people were dying around her, and always used her catch phrase, “don’t even get me started!” Shannon explained that at this point, she was feeling such pressure to make people laugh, she made this character to channel it.
Sadly, Shannon’s mother passed away tragically when she was only four-years-old. Her baby sister, Katie, unfortunately died in the same car accident. She and her sister were raised by their father in the Cleveland area. In this live Chicago Q&A, she explained that during the “Darcy” era, it was then that she realized: no matter who she made laugh, or what awards she won, her mom would never be able to laugh, or tell her she did a good job. It was this, Shannon explained, that she was subconsciouly chasing.
O n Friendship
Molly Shannon is a timeless comedy icon, especially for ’90s kids who grew up with her characters. She could make me cry laughing as a kid, as well as my parents and all my teachers too. Thanks to her longevity, she remains an icon for all ages with current roles in “The White Lotus,” “The Other Two,” “Divorce,” and much more. From the time she started out on the public stage at SNL, Shannon has displayed relatable, hilarious characters that made funnywomen visible. She was pretty, but that wasn’t her focus, and she took risks in physical comedy not seen since the Lucille Ball years. As a young person, maybe most importantly, you could just tell in her eyes she was kind. Her jokes were just for laughs, and she had a big heart.
Growing up, I was fortunate to have a *middle school best friend.* Young people who were lucky enough to have a *middle school best friend,* especially in the ’90s, have had an amazing run recently with Pen15 and Fuller House among other shows. However, if you grew up watching SNL with your sixth/seventh grade bestie when you were supposed to be in bed on scrambled basement TV… you’ll love “Hello Molly!” Throughout her memoir, and throughout this evening with Tim Meadows, Shannon frequently mentioned her childhood best friend, Ann, who was shy to everyone else, but connected with Molly over early improv, trying to make each other laugh. They mimicked their neighbors, made up inside jokes and even took local bus trips together as young children to a nearby hospital ward to see what it would be like to be a doctor who just got out of surgery…or at least have a sandwich near them.
Meadows laughs and looks on as Shannon acts out playing with her childhood best friend, Ann, who was too shy to face her when being creative.
Throughout the evening, Shannon made it clear how friendship has shaped her life. I felt like I knew her friends Alison and Ann after reading her memoir. So many of her funniest personal moments she’s presented as characters publicly, came initially from love. This includes her friend Debbie Palermo calling her ‘Superstar’ each time before her stage show, and then Molly busting the phrase out on a whim for her friend on live TV the first time she got the character on SNL, which led to a veritable franchise of ‘Superstar’ success. In her memoir, she spoke of supporting pals from her past, like her college roommate who was considered an eccentric, ‘real witch’ to their peers. Shannon said in her memoir, “I like that witch. And you know what? I’m gonna be friends with that witch. And she and I are gonna go to the East Village for Chinese food, on Sunday night, and we’re gonna split a bottle of wine, and sit and talk… that sweet, smart witch and I. And that is that.”
One friend mentioned throughout the event and the book, was Shannon’s dad. He put her in what she called “The Jim Shannon School of Acting” from a young age, where she’d try to trick her friends that someone was on the phone for them while over to hang out. “Ann, it’s for you,” Shannon pretended, changing her voice into her father’s deeper tone saying back, “nope, not believable enough, do it again!”
Molly showcases the Jim Shannon school of acting.
Seeing Shannon high kick on stage and laugh with her old friend Tim Meadows felt like a warm hug from an old friend. She was so fit, so petite and so flexible, it felt pretty unbelievable that she is 57-years-old. Even though Shannon summed up her relationship with childhood BFF Ann in this quote from the Chicago show, for many of us, it could apply to our relationships with the characters themselves, like Mary Katherine Gallagher, Sally O’Malley and so many more: “I think when you’re connected like that from your childhood, it doesn’t matter how much time passes, you can always pick up again. Our lives have gone in different directions…but we’re still really close. Like sisters.” Thank you to Molly Shannon for creating the landscapes for so many silly, special memories.
Molly showed Chicago how Sally O’Malley can stretch, kick and stretch.
L et’s Talk About Tim Meadows
Tim Meadows looks AMAZING and is still The Ladies’ Man. He has recently hosted other interviews around town, notably at the Music Box with Bob Odenkirk. His wit and comedic timing remain bastions of crossing taboo thresholds with endearing vibes. He’ll make you think, make you laugh and if you were in the Chicago audience, definitely asked you for weed, but not in an annoying way. If you’re reading this, Tim; I really hope you got what you needed, king. He also reminded the audience of his deadpan Dr. Poop sketch that broke Will Ferrell, Chris Parnell and Molly Shannon all at once. If you haven’t seen that one for awhile, or ever, go ahead and look it up.
Tim Meadows at the Chicago Humanities Festival.
Thanks to his close relationship with Shannon from working together for years on SNL, Meadows as her moderator felt intimate and casual. The pair got comfortable early, mostly discussing topics from Shannon’s memoir. Meadows cranked the heat when asking questions more personal to him specifically, noting how it felt terrible when only some of the SNL cast made it on the cover of Rolling Stone, leaving the rest of the cast feeling a bit cast aside. He asked Shannon, one of four who did make the cover, what she remembered from that time. This could have led them down a dramatic road, but Shannon instead recalled how fun the experience was, mentioned cover photographer Mark Seliger by name and didn’t once buckle.
Rolling Stone, Issue 774 (11.27.97)
The exchange felt like an authentic call and response from both Meadows and Shannon, enhancing the unique corners of conversation explored only in Chicago, with different moderators along each stop on Shannon’s book tour. Meadows touched on how hard the skit “Dog Show” used to make him laugh at SNL table readings, stating frequently to get her skits on the show that Shannon would use for support, “but Tim laughed!” One time, the two went for pedicures together, which Meadows said was his only time doing this with a woman he wasn’t sleeping with. The Ladies’ Man, forever and ever, amen.
Lovingly, Meadows held up Shannon’s new book to start the show, saying the first thing he did was look to find where she wrote about him, getting a huge laugh from the crowd. She of course, did mention him, and the mutual respect and rapport shared between them was a lot of fun to experience. It felt as if we in the audience were just guests for two old friends catching up. Kudos to the Chicago Humanity Festival for cultivating such a show.
L ove & Loss
Lots of funny people are actually sad. I think we all know that and yet, it can be easy to forget when they make you laugh all the time. Part of growing up is learning about love and loss in due time, but since Shannon went through such trauma at such a young age, it was like she had become a woman when she was only four. In her memoir, she says the doctors told her older sister, Mary, “You have to kind of be the mom now.” She was six.
Knowing there is an end someday for all of us is daunting, but it also brings humanity together as a great equalizer. Reflecting on this through Shannon’s comedy surfaced many emptions. Through her memoir, learning that her sisters names were Mary and Katherine, and the head priest for her first grade St Patrick’s Day show was Father Gallagher, showed how what we love, and what we hold close to us inevitably who we become, and we share with the world, for better or for worse. Shannon could have done it differently, but she turned sadness and tragedy into a conquering story of resilience, as radiant protagonist, Superstar and iconic role model.
Y our Birthmark Looks Like Chi-cago
Superstar, 1999
As a young high school student, Shannon auditioned for NYU at a Chicago hotel, as told in her memoir. Making a fun road-trip out of it from Cleveland, she went with her best friend and their dads. She clinched her position in the competitive program w a dramatic monologue. Mary Katherine Gallagher’s soon-to-sprout roots were definitely planted deeper that day.
Chicago loved having Molly Shannon, hosted by Tim Meadows. One audience member told Shannon she has been Mary Katherine Gallagher every year for Halloween since 2009 (12 years), and asked her if she’d ‘do Superstar,’ to which Shannon burst into form (pictured below).
Screenshot from the below CHF video
See the full Chicago Humanities Festival’s “An Evening with Molly Shannon and Tim Meadows” conversation here:
Check out the preview for this event here from a few weeks back, with more pictures and CHF information about upcoming guests including Anita Hill and John Waters. Please note that some details changed after the preview was published. According to CHF, they are trying to reschedule the Jonathan Van Ness appearance that was cancelled due to illness.
Duke’s Paolo Banchero is leaping to the NBA after one season as a candidate to be the No. 1 overall draft pick.
Banchero announced his decision in a social media video Wednesday, with the school saying the freshman planned to hire an agent.
“It has always been a dream of mine to play at Duke, and it has always been a dream of mine to play in the NBA,” Banchero said. “Duke has prepared me for that on and off the court. … It has been a great journey and I’m blessed to be a part of The Brotherhood for life.”
Banchero had been viewed as a likely one-and-done player even before he stepped foot on the Durham, North Carolina, campus from Seattle. Blessed with a strong frame, size and perimeter skills, Banchero went on to become a third-team All-America pick by the The Associated Press, and ranks No. 2 in ESPN’s latest list of draft prospects.
The 6-foot-10, 250-pound Banchero recently was projected as the No. 3 overall pick in the latest mock draft by ESPN’s Jonathan Givony.
1 Related
The headliner on a talented recruiting class, Banchero averaged 17.2 points and 7.8 rebounds, cracking the 20-point mark 15 times while failing to reach double figures only twice in 39 games. He helped Duke reach now-retired Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski’s record 13th Final Four while also winning the program’s first outright Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title since 2006.
In a statement from the school, Krzyzewski said Banchero is “absolutely ready to attack the next phase” of his career.
“He is so dynamic, explosive and versatile – a model player in today’s NBA game. He did whatever we asked at a very high level,” Krzyzewski said. “I loved having him and his family in our program and wish him all the best as his professional career begins.”
Banchero also took advantage of opportunities for college athletes to cash in on their fame with endorsements, which began last summer with the NCAA permitted athletes to profit from use of their name, image and likeness (NIL).
In Banchero’s case, he worked with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) for marketing deals and got deals that included becoming the first player featured in the latest NBA 2K video game as well as a basketball trading card from Panini as part of a multi-year deal.
CLEVELAND — The White Sox waited three days to play baseball Wednesday.
And when they played, after two days of sitting in Cleveland because of two postponed games, it looked like they hadn’t played in three weeks. In one of the worst displays of defensive baseball seen in recent memory, the Sox infield made four errors in the first two innings and left-hander Dallas Keuchel allowed eight consecutive hits, all singles except for a Jose Ramirez grand slam.
One of the hits was originally scored an error on first baseman Jose Abreu, failing to backhand a ground ball he probably should have had. The official scorer’s change cut the Sox total of errors from five to four.
The defensive fiasco started with bad throws by shortstop Tim Anderson and third baseman Jake Burger on the Guardians’ first two at-bats. Abreu was in position for a backhand scoop of Burger’s throw made on the run, but he failed to glove the ball. Anderson made two more fielding errors in the second as the Sox fell behind 10-0 against Guardians right-hander Shane Bieber.
The Sox entered with a 6-3 record, having won each of their first three series against the Tigers, Mariners and Rays. Monday’s game in Cleveland was called off because of snow, and Tuesday’s was postponed because of cold and poor field conditions. Wednesday’s game, the first of a doubleheader, was played under sunny skies and temperatures in the low 50s.
Keuchel was charged with 10 runs (eight earned) on eight hits. He struck out one batter and walked none. He threw 48 pitches, 32 for strikes.
His replacement, 30-year-old rookie lefty Tanner Banks, was much better with four perfect innings. Banks struck out two and threw 37 of 49 pitches for strikes while keeping his ERA at 0.00 over four appearances and 9 1/3 innings.
Anderson did make a nice play from deep in the hole in the fourth inning and center fielder Luis Robert followed by making a running catch at the wall. And Anderson stabbed a one-hopper on his backhand in the seventh for another nice play.
Bieber, meanwhile, cruised with six innings of one-run ball, striking out seven and walking none while allowing four hits, one of them an RBI double by Anderson.
London-based choreographer Cathy Marston can’t read “Of Mice and Men” without weeping. And without the Joffrey Ballet, she couldn’t create the world premiere ballet of John Steinbeck’s shattering chronicle of Depression-era life.
“I was only 16 or 17 when I read it in secondary school, high school in the UK,” she said on a break during April’s first week of in-person rehearsals. “It’s heart-breaking and heart-warming, all at the same time. I’ve always wanted to do it. But you need just the right company to take it on,” she said.
More than two years in the making, the production opens April 27 in a shared bill with the Joffrey premiere of “Serenade,” George Balanchine’s first ballet created in the U.S. almost 90 years ago.
“Of Mice and Men” follows Lennie (danced by Dylan Gutierrez) and George (dance by Xavier Nunez), best friends tramping the country in the early 1930s, when dust storms and drought intersected with a cataclysmic collapse of the economy and threw millions of people out of work. The Great Depression-era plot begins as the friends, ever in a race to stay a meal or two ahead of starvation, find jobs as ranch hands. The story ends when both are forced to flee the ranch, their varied modes of departure a brutal, tragic testimony to the almighty powers of devotion and desperation.
Marston began the adaptation during the pandemic lockdown, Marston said, working closely with her dramaturg and long-time creative partner Edward Kemp.
“I needed an ensemble that is both classically trained and open to new movements. I knew the Joffrey had that, from working with them [in 2019] on my adaptation of ‘Jane Eyre.’ That was one big reason I wanted the company for ‘Mice and Men.’
Choreographer Cathy Marston rehearses the cast of “Of Mice and Men” in the Joffrey Ballet’s studio.
“I rarely start rehearsals with a set idea of how I want something to look or sound. I’m not a choreographer who says, ‘do this move like me.’ I’m more trying to draw movement out of the dancers,” she said.
“The deep, platonic love that George and Lennie share is atypical for most classical ballets, which tend to focus more on romantic love. It doesn’t look like a classical ballet, because there are more modern or contemporary movements, but it’s all very much rooted in classical tradition. The dancers use the language of both. And every step has to be full of nuance and intention.”
Rehearsals via Zoom began well over a year ago; Marston in Switzerland, the Joffrey ensemble in their various quarantine quarters across the globe.
“Edward and I had words for each character, sometimes right from the language of the book, sometimes from imagination. Like for George: ‘sharp, restless, hackles up, smart.’ For Lennie: ‘lumbering, sloping, fog, jumbled.’ We’d give the words to the dancers, they’d add their own, we’d figure out what expressing them physically looked like.
“Obviously it would have been much nicer to do it in person, but by the time I got to Chicago, the dancers were really, really prepared,” she said.
Marston’s adaptation for the 19-person ensemble has two Georges: “George” goes about the daily business of survival and caring for Lennie. “Shadow George” is forever haunted by the choice he’s forced to make in the climactic scene. “It can be tricky because Steinbeck gives them all such specific physical attributes. Lennie has to be a very large man, George much smaller,” she said. Plus, she needed four Georges and two Lennies, because the roles alternate by performance.
Getting movie/television composer Thomas Newman to tackle his first-ever ballet score for the Joffrey’s 47-piece orchestra was “a total longshot,” said Joffrey artistic director Ashley Wheater. It was also the first name Marston gave when they began talking about who should create the score.
Newman’s bona fides include an Emmy Award for penning the theme of “Six Feet Under” and a resume that includes more than 50 film scores as varied as “Desperately Seeking Susan,” “The Shawshank Redemption” and “Skyfall,” the latter an Oscar-winning theme song for Adele. He is also a second-generation film composer, son of composer Alfred Newman, (who wrote, among other things, the 20th century logo theme still in use today), and cousin to Randy (“Short People”) Newman.
“I’ve never done a narrative ballet, and it seemed fascinating to me,” Newman said from his home in southern California. “And this setting, where Steinbeck has it all take place? This is where I’m from. This is where I am. I look out my window and I can see the land he was writing about.
“Doing film tends is a reactive process. You see something, you’re given something, you react to it,” Newman continued. “This isn’t like that. It was frankly kind of baffling to me at first, how the music had to sub-textualize everything, because there would be no words at all. It was more collaborative than anything.”
For Marston, part of the process meant deepening the character known only as “Curly’s Wife” (danced by Christina Rocas), a woman who dreams of a bigger, better life far from the ranch.
“I expanded her role, gave her more attention,” Marston said. “I’ve been drawn to all these characters because of their qualities as human beings, and I want them to have time to show their complexities.
“To me, it’s a piece about empathy and friendship, both things that are really life-affirming,” she concluded. “Although I still can’t read it without crying.”
Joffrey Ballet dancer Christine Rocas rehearses the role of “Curly’s Wife” in “Of Mice and Men.”|
GLENDALE, Ariz. –Dominik Kubalik had been a healthy scratch before, particularly during his rookie NHL season, although he certainly wasn’t accustomed to it.
But a healthy scratch three games in a row? That was something he’d never endured.
“It’s a new experience,” he said Monday. “You’re trying to take it the best you can: get some extra work on the ice, be in the gym a little bit, refresh my mind, keep my head a little loose. And when you get a chance to go back, just be ready for it.”
After surprisingly staying with the Blackhawks through the trade deadline, Kubalik hoped he’d be able to at least finish his incredibly disappointing 2021-22 season on a high note.
Unfortunately, that’s not how it has panned out. Kubalik has fluctuated in and out of the Hawks’ lineup more than ever this April, including that stretch of three straight games –against the Stars, Kings and Sharks — on the outside looking in.
Asked if he believes the time he spent as a scratch, watching the games from high up in the press box, could help him — something often mentioned by players in his situation –Kubalik’s answer tellingly reflected just how much of a beating his morale has taken this year.
“Obviously you can learn from it,” he said. “When you’re on the ice, you have a second to make a decision. When you’re playing with confidence, you usually make good decisions. When you’re not, you’re trying to force plays, maybe try to make something happen, but you shouldn’t do that. Yeah, sometimes it’s nice to watch it [from above], but obviously on the ice, it’s different.”
He did score in his return to the lineup Saturday against the Predators, and he actually enters Wednesday with a respectable seven points in his last 10 games. But his reputation as a down-on-his-luck scorer looks like it’ll follow him into restricted free agency this summer, and it currently seems unlikely the Hawks will re-sign him.
“He’s an NHL [player],” interim coach Derek King said. “He’s good enough to play in the NHL. He’s just having one of those years, [and] it just happened to be bad timing.
“I’m not sure what his deal’s going to be — if he’s back, or if he’s going to go somewhere else. But he’ll eventually get out of it and he’ll put some numbers up. He’ll score some goals.”
Defensive rotation
King has established a steady rotation of defensemen lately with Riley Stillman, Erik Gustafsson, Caleb Jones and Calvin de Haan taking turns playing and sitting out.
On Wednesday against the Coyotes –the Hawks’ final trip to Gila River Arena before the Coyotes move to Arizona State’s new but tiny (5,000-seat) arena next season — the former two dressed and the latter two sat.
Gustafsson’s repeated returns to the lineup have frustrated some fans, who understandably see no reason to continue playing the struggling veteran on an expiring contract. But King explained Wednesday he wants to be respectful to everyone until the final day.
“He’s part of the team,” King said. “And maybe he can give us a power play quarterback –he brings something different. It’s not based on play, it’s just the human element of it. These guys are here. They’re been a part of the team all year. I’m not just goingto go, ‘You know what, you’re not playing the last 10 games because I need to play [somebody else].”
Duke’s Paolo Banchero is leaping to the NBA after one season as a candidate to be the No. 1 overall draft pick.
Banchero announced his decision in a social media video Wednesday, with the school saying the freshman planned to hire an agent.
“It has always been a dream of mine to play at Duke, and it has always been a dream of mine to play in the NBA,” Banchero said. “Duke has prepared me for that on and off the court. … It has been a great journey and I’m blessed to be a part of The Brotherhood for life.”
Banchero had been viewed as a likely one-and-done player even before he stepped foot on the Durham, North Carolina, campus from Seattle. Blessed with a strong frame, size and perimeter skills, Banchero went on to become a third-team All-America pick by the The Associated Press, and ranks No. 2 in ESPN’s latest list of draft prospects.
The 6-foot-10, 250-pound Banchero recently was projected as the No. 3 overall pick in the latest mock draft by ESPN’s Jonathan Givony.
1 Related
The headliner on a talented recruiting class, Banchero averaged 17.2 points and 7.8 rebounds, cracking the 20-point mark 15 times while failing to reach double figures only twice in 39 games. He helped Duke reach now-retired Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski’s record 13th Final Four while also winning the program’s first outright Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title since 2006.
In a statement from the school, Krzyzewski said Banchero is “absolutely ready to attack the next phase” of his career.
“He is so dynamic, explosive and versatile – a model player in today’s NBA game. He did whatever we asked at a very high level,” Krzyzewski said. “I loved having him and his family in our program and wish him all the best as his professional career begins.”
Banchero also took advantage of opportunities for college athletes to cash in on their fame with endorsements, which began last summer with the NCAA permitted athletes to profit from use of their name, image and likeness (NIL).
In Banchero’s case, he worked with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) for marketing deals and got deals that included becoming the first player featured in the latest NBA 2K video game as well as a basketball trading card from Panini as part of a multi-year deal.
No person in the organization will have as much influence on how coach Matt Eberflus’ does than quarterback Justin Fields. But linebacker Roquan Smith is next on the list.
As Eberflus lays the groundwork for the Bears defense this offseason, Smith isn’t just some guy. He’s the guy. Eberflus needs him as a partner, not just another player.
Fortunately for Eberflus and defensive coordinator Alan Williams, Smith is eager to form that relationship. The Bears are starting something new, and Smith is passionate about spearheading it.
“That’s a heck of an opportunity to have,” he said Wednesday. “Resetting things and starting over fresh — new faces, new regime — it’s a great opportunity to be the face of the new regime and doing whatever it takes to make this the best regime in Bears history. That’s my plan.”
Speaking of plans, Smith intends to see that through to the end. While his contract runs out at the end of this season and he has been dodgy on that subject at every turn over the past year, all indications are that he and the Bears will finalize something that keeps him around.
General manager Ryan Poles said last month he wants to do a deal before this season begins, and Smith envisions being a Bear for the long term.
The Bears’ trade of Khalil Mack to the Chargers caught his teammates off guard.
They still don’t seem to have recovered.
“Hey, it sucks seeing one of your guys go, one of the leaders,” linebacker Roquan Smith said Wednesday. “But hey, life goes on. I know he’s gonna do well out there in LA. You know, a healthy Mack is a damn good player, as we all know.”
The trade, agreed to in early March, netted the Bears the No. 48 overall pick in next week’s draft and a sixth-rounder in 2023. It was a tacit admission that the Bears are rebuilding.
Defensive end Trevis Gipson, who played behind Mack last year, remembers exactly where he was when he heard about the trade. He was at a friend’s house, and he thought his buddies were joking.
“So when I did see it on my phone, it was sort of like, ‘I can’t believe it’,” he said. “But at the same time, I do understand that it’s a business and things happen.”
He said he’ll miss the six-time Pro Bowl pass rusher.
“It sort of bothered me a little bit because I stole a lot of information from him,” he said. “Well, I hate to use the word ‘steal.’ But, yeah, I learned a lot from Khalil, man. He paved the way with a lot of things and showed me right from wrong. How to do certain techniques, how to carry myself as a vet in this league.”
Both he and Smith still stay in touch with Mack.
“I got a lot of respect for him,” Smith said. “I learned a lot from him. I appreciate him.”
Jackson back
One day after he wasn’t spotted at the volunteer minicamp practice, safety Eddie Jackson participated Wednesday.
“It was good to see him out there,” head coach Matt Eberflus said. “He looked quick in the drills. Looked fluid, looked real athletic. … I thought he caught the ball well in drills. He has a good set of hands on him. I thought his vision was good in coverage from what I saw.
“So yeah, he looked good.”
Al-Quadin Muhammad, the defensive end whom the Bears signed to a two-year deal last month, did not attend Tuesday but was at practice Wednesday. Muhammad, however, did not participate in drills.
Cornerback Jaylon Johnson, third-string quarterback Nick Foles and defensive ends Robert Quinn and Mario Edwards were not in attendance for the second-straight day. Bears general manager Ryan Poles has said the team will try to trade Foles, who is in the last year of his contract.
Practice eval
Ebeflus said quarterback Justin Fields looked good for the second-straight day.
“Much like I said [Tuesday] — good fundamentals, footwork’s improving, timing’s improving, looked good, operation was good–and same [Wednesday],” he said. “I think he took another step forward [Wednesday], and that’s really good for our football team.”
Fields faced the Bears’ defense for the first time; the team ran 12 plays apiece in 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills inside the Walter Payton Center. They practiced indoors by design — Ebeflus said he wanted to test out his plan for inclement weather.
CLEVELAND — The White Sox waited three days to play baseball Wednesday.
And when they played, after two days of sitting in Cleveland because of two postponed games, it looked like they hadn’t played in three weeks. In one of the worst displays of defensive baseball seen in recent memory, the Sox infield made four errors in the first two innings and left-hander Dallas Keuchel allowed eight consecutive hits, all singles except for a Jose Ramirez grand slam.
One of the hits was originally scored an error on first baseman Jose Abreu, failing to backhand a ground ball he probably should have had. The official scorer’s change cut the Sox total of errors from five to four.
The defensive fiasco started with bad throws by shortstop Tim Anderson and third baseman Jake Burger on the Guardians’ first two at-bats. Abreu was in position for a backhand scoop of Burger’s throw made on the run, but he failed to glove the ball. Anderson made two more fielding errors in the second as the Sox fell behind 10-0 against Guardians right-hander Shane Bieber.
The Sox entered with a 6-3 record, having won each of their first three series against the Tigers, Mariners and Rays. Monday’s game in Cleveland was called off because of snow, and Tuesday’s was postponed because of cold and poor field conditions. Wednesday’s game, the first of a doubleheader, was played under sunny skies and temperatures in the low 50s.
Keuchel was charged with 10 runs (eight earned) on eight hits. He struck out one batter and walked none. He threw 48 pitches, 32 for strikes.
His replacement, 30-year-old rookie lefty Tanner Banks, was much better with four perfect innings. Banks struck out two and threw 37 of 49 pitches for strikes while keeping his ERA at 0.00 over four appearances and 9 1/3 innings.
Anderson did make a nice play from deep in the hole in the fourth inning and center fielder Luis Robert followed by making a running catch at the wall.
Bieber, meanwhile, cruised with six innings of one-run ball, striking out seven and walking none while allowing four hits, one of them an RBI double by Anderson.
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