Cavaliers acquire Peyton Watson from Denver

     The Cleveland Cavaliers may have failed in their pursuit of LeBron James, but their backup plan may end up paying more dividends in the long run after acquiring Peyton Watson from the Denver Nuggets in a five team trade that added the previously reported deal with Charlotte which included Dennis Schoeder and Tre Mann.

Cleveland added Watson, and Cam Whitmore from Washington and traded Mann (acquired from Charlotte for Schoeder) and a 2027 second rounders (Clippers) to Washington, sent Max Strus to the Los Angeles Clippers, and their 2031 unprotected first round selection to Denver.

Watson was the final pick of the first round of the 2022 draft out of UCLA by Oklahoma City but has spent his four year career with the Denver Nuggets,

Last season was the breakout season for Watson, who averaged 14 points per game, shooting 49 percent and 41 percent from three-point range.

The rangy 6'8 forward provides both offensive and defensive upside and at 24 (at season's start), Watson is just entering his prime seasons.

If Watson can make another jump similar to his leap last season, he could eventually become an All-Star caliber player.

Watson is under contract for the next three seasons and should step into the startling lineup at the small forward position.

Cam Whitmore could be waived by the Cavaliers, but if he's not, he's an intriging addition.

Whitmore was the 20th pick overall by the Rockets in 2023 from Villanova and spent last season with Washington, averaging nine points and just under three rebounds in twenty-one games due to a shoulder injury.

Whitmore makes over five million per season and his salary on a team that has to stretch every penny at this stage seems to point to Whitmore not spending his season in Cleveland.

Losing Max Strus is a mixed bag for me.

Strus can be extremely effective when he has a hot streak and he's noted for being a plus in the locker room

However, his shot is streaky and I've never loved his defense although it was more due to his limited athletic ability than a lack of effort.

With Strus leaving and the previous departure of Dean Wade, the Cavaliers have removed the two players who frustrated me most from the roster.

Considering the Cavaliers have traded so many future first rounders, trading another one five years down the road does cause some concern but considering the team's all-in status, I can understand the team's decision to move a first rounder at this time.   

Boxing Challenge

  Due to a weekend trip, I wasn't able to click the predictions for last weekend's boxing challenge.

I haven't even watched any of the matches, so the points and results are below

WBA Welterweight title. 12 Rds 

Rolando Romero vs Teofimo Lopez

Predictions 

Ramon Malpica and TRS: Lopez Unanimous Decision

Vince Samano: Romero KO 9

Result: Lopez Majority Decision

Middleweights 10 Rds

Yoenil Hernandez vs Francisco Veron

Predictions

R.L: Hernandez Unanimous Decision

TRS: Hernandez KO 6

V.S: Veron Unanimous Decision

Result: Hernandez Majority Decision

Junior Featherweights 12 Rds

Victor Santilan vs Gary Antonio Russell

R,L and TRS: Russell Unanimous Decision

V.S: Santillan Unanimous Decision

Result: Russell Unanimous Decision

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 94 Pts (4)

Ramon Malpica: 81 Pts ( 5)

Vince Samano: 60 Pts (0)

Cleaning out the Inbox

 Time to clean out the inbox with a few notes of interest.

My favorite soft drink is going to change its flavor.

7up has announced plans to change its Lemon-Lime flavor to "Lime-Lemon," with a stronger lime flavor.

Since 7up is my favorite drink, this distresses me, and we shall see if the new taste keeps it in the top position in the rankings.

The new version of 7up is expected to debut at any time.

The Athletic writes about the rebuilding of Sheffield Wednesday as one of the biggest clubs in English soccer, attempting to come back from insolvency.

Sheffield Wednesday was dropped from the Championship to League One for the new season after winning only two of forty-six games in a season that saw the team deducted points for their financial woes.

Sheffield Wednesday is now under new ownership in America's David Storch, who is throwing himself into a task that involves personnel and a decaying stadium, in an effort to avoid dropping further down the ladder to League Two at the end of the season.

A recent meteorite that smashed through the roof of a New Jersey home is reported to contain the building blocks of life.

ABC News reports the meteorite is a CM 1/2 Carbonaceous Chondrite, a rare and primitive meteorite, and is one of the most scientifically valuable meteorites ever recovered.

People Magazine writes of a home for sale in Kentucky that looks like a time capsule from the 1970s.

The condition of the home was described as pristine, with walls and floors covered with bright red shag carpet.

The three-bedroom home was on the market for only one week before selling for 360,000 dollars.

Times of India writes that the Wild Boar problem started in the southern United States, and it traces back to 1912, when a handful of scared boars were imported for a private hunting ranch in North Carolina.

The boars jumped the fence and escaped into the wild, eventually interbreeding with domesticated hogs to develop a tough, rugged hog that became the boar we know today, an ecological destroyer.

Cleaning out the Inbox; Passings

    It's time to recognize some stars who have recently left us and offer a tribute to their careers.

Goodbye to Dory Funk Jr at the age of 85.

One half of the only brothers to hold the NWA title with brother Terry, Dory Jr's reign ran from 1969 (winning from Gene Kiniski) to 1973 (losing to Harley Race) and was the second longest to only Lou Thesz.

Dory Jr, held many regional titles and was the key American in dealing with All Japan Pro Wrestling after losing the championship.

Funk's matches with Jack Brisco in the 1970s are considered classics, with the two battling through Funk's title reign and later Brisco's championship period as the challenger.

Funk's solid and deliberate style, with more sports-based interviews, was very much of his time, and as time passed, it was brother Terry, whose wild brawling style and crazed interviews adapted better to the changes in pro wrestling.

Goodbye to Don Nelson at the age of 86.

A standout as a player and as a coach, Nelson won five championships with the Boston Celtics, and although he never won a championship as a coach, his 1,335 wins rank second all time behind Gregg Popovich.

Nelson's number 19 is retired by the Celtics, and his final season saw the Celtics win the NBA title in six games over the Phoenix Suns.

As a coach, Nelson coached for thirty-one years with the Bucks, Warriors, Knicks, and Mavericks and is one of only two coaches to win 250 games with three franchises.

Goodbye to Cozell McQueen at the age of 64.

McQueen's NBA career was brief, consisting of three games with the 1986-87 Detroit Pistons, but McQueen will forever be remembered as the center for the 1983 National Champion N.C. State Wolfpack, who guarded such collegiate standouts as Virginia's Ralph Sampson and Houston's Hakeem Olajuwon.

It is McQueen, who is shown sitting above the rim as the Pack celebrated their miracle win over Houston in the 1983 title game.

Goodbye to Butch Huskey at the age of 54.

Huskey turned down a scholarship to Oklahoma as a tight end to sign with the New York Mets and hit 55 homers in parts of five seasons with the Mets, 24 of those in 1997.

Huskey would play for four teams in two seasons after leaving the Mets in 1999, and his big-league career was over after the 2000 season.

Goodbye to Billy Ray Smith Jr. at the age of 64.

The son of former Baltimore Colts defensive lineman Billy Ray Smith Sr,, Smith was the fifth overall pick from Arkansas by the San Diego Chargers in the classic 1983 NFL Draft.

Smith played his entire ten-year career with the Chargers and had eleven sacks for the Bolts in 1986, but he was never the impact player that you would expect from the fifth overall pick.

Goodbye to Magic Weisner at the age of 27.

Magic Weisner just missed winning the 2002 Preakness Stakes from far off the pace, finishing second with a strong late rally to finish second by half a length to Kentucky Derby winner War Emblem.

The Maryland-bred started the race at odds of 33-1 and likely would have been higher had the Preakness been anywhere other than Maryland.

Magic Weisner would finish fourth in the Belmont Stakes before a win in the Ohio Derby and another second to War Emblem in the Haskell Invitational, after which he contracted West Nile Virus, almost losing his life.

Cavaliers trade Dennis Schroder to Charlotte

   The Cleveland Cavaliers' off-season was all about trying to bring LeBron James back to Cleveland, but when James decided to take his talents to Philadelphia, Cleveland had very little to show for any changes to the roster.

Cleveland agreed to a deal with Mario Hezonja to bring him back to the league after a hiatus that began in the 2019-2020 season, but Hezonja averaged only 7 points and 3 rebounds over his 5 NBA seasons, so not a huge upgrade there.

The Cavaliers trade of veteran guard Dennis Schröder to Charlotte for guard Tre Mann isn't about Mann as much as getting a salary off the roster to possibly land one of the two wings who have been rumored to have interest from Cleveland.

The Cavaliers have been consistently mentioned as a major player in discussions to land Peyton Watson of the Denver Nuggets and/or Jonathan Kuminga of the Atlanta Hawks, and with Schröder in line to earn 14.5 million over each of the next two seasons, he was the most likely target to create cap space.

Schroder averaged eight points and four assists in thirty games with Cleveland after being acquired with Keon Ellis from Sacramento for DeAndre Hunter.

Schroder will be remembered best by Cleveland fans for his 19 points in game five of the playoffs against Toronto in leading the Cavaliers to a big win.

Charlotte will be the 12th team that Schroder has played for in his NBA career.

Tre Mann is a 6'4 guard who was selected 18th overall by Oklahoma City in the 2021 draft out of Florida.

The twenty-five-year-old Mann averaged 5.5 points and 1.6 assists per game in fifty-three games for the Hornets, averaging twelve minutes per game.

I'm not sure if Mann figures into the Cavaliers' plans for 2026-27, as he could be included in possible deals with the Nuggets or Hawks to help the numbers work.

Should Mann survive the off-season, he will battle Craig Porter for the backup point guard position.

Boxing Challenge: McKenna wins 160 pound gold

    Dublin, Ireland, hosted the only two fights in the boxing challenge last week, and both were dull and hard to get through. 

In the main event, Aaron McKenna won a unanimous decision over  Etinosa Olina to win the IBF middleweight title, which was stripped from Janibek Alimkhanuly for failing a drug test.

McKenna's win was dull, but Callum Walsh's unanimous decision over Tyler Denny was worse.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 90 Pts (3)

Ramon Malpica: 76 Pts (2)

Vince Samano: 60 Pts (0)

 

Boxing Challenge

  The middleweight division may be the weakest in boxing right now, and the division's status shows with two unbeaten and mostly untested fighters meeting for the IBF title, which was stripped from Janibek Alimkhnauly for a positive test for PED's.

The home crowd in Dublin, Ireland, will be biased towards their fighter, Aaron McKenna, who owns a solid win over former junior middleweight champion Liam Smith, but few other noteworthy wins, while his opponent, Etinosa Olina of Italy, lacks any interesting wins, and his win entering this fight was over a fighter with a 19-33 record.

In the co-feature, unbeaten middleweight Callum Walsh meets light-punching Tyler Denny, who has stopped only one opponent in his career.

Boxing Challenge

Vacant IBF Middleweight Title. 12 Rds 

Aaron McKenna vs Etinosa Olina

Ramon Malpica: Olina Unanimous Decision

TRS: McKenna Unanimous Decision

Vince Samano: 

Middleweights. 10 Rds

Callum Walsh vs Tyler Denny 

R.l; Walsh Unanimous Decision

TRS: Walsh KO 4

V.S: