Daily Quickies: Rajon Rondo Edition

News from around the internet including Rajon Rondo's time in Dallas, Malik Newman may have already announced his destination, and a new name may have emerged on John Calipari's 2015 wish list.

By James Streble@JStreble82 Apr 23, 2015, 7:50am EDT

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It appears as if Rajon Rondo's time as a Dallas Maverick is up. The former All Star point guard has been feuding with head coach Rick Carlisle seemingly ever since he stepped foot in Dallas in a trade from Boston. This move was supposed to propel the Mavs as a title contender going forward but hasn't worked out for either party. Rondo has also said that if Carlisle is in Dallas next season, then he doesn't want to be. Dallas is down 2-0 in their playoff series against the Houston Rockets and there doesn't seem like there is much life there.

Rondo is an NBA champion, an All Star point guard, and also a bit of a head case. It seems that his two years at Kentucky were spent not playing to his potential and now he may be ending his career on a very sour note. His options may be limited at this point.

Tweet of the Morning

Malik Newman plans to publicly commit to Mississippi State this week, multiple sources have told @CBSSports. Story: http://t.co/vqxJQVmEFH
— Gary Parrish (@GaryParrishCBS) April 22, 2015

More on this in a bit.

Your Quickies:

Kentucky Football

Kentucky freshman tight end CJ Conrad is likely to have hernia surgery but he will be back in time for camp in August. Conrad is going to be an impact freshman for the Wildcats in a position that has been in need for many seasons.
Mel Kiper says that Alvin "Bud" Dupree is a "hot name" amongst the NFL draftees. Mel, he's been a hot name around these parts for years, glad the NFL scouts are taking notice. Dupree should be a green room guest at the draft is a few weeks.

Kentucky Basketball

Yesterday afternoon CBS Sports basketball columnist Gary Parrish said that Malik Newman will announce that he will attend Mississippi State on Friday at 1:00 PM. Newman's father attended Mississippi State and Newman is from the state. He has been trending this way for a while and Ben Howland as a coach has done nothing but helped. If Rick Ray was still there, I don't think Starkville would even be a real option at this point. Newman denied the report and said that he is still deciding between Mississippi State, Kansas, Kentucky and Ole Miss.
So who does Calipari go to if Newman does indeed become a Bull Dog? Mychal Mulder, the JUCO transfer guard, is a good place to start. It's being reported that the three point sharp shooter will indeed sign with Kentucky when he visits this weekend.
A name to really start watching out for if Newman goes to Mississippi State is Jamal Murray. The Canadian guard turned heads at the Nike Hoop Summit and was the best guard on the floor. Yes, better even than Newman and Kentucky bound Isiah Briscoe. Murray is a 2016 class member right now, but 247's Jerry Meyer told The Courier-Journal's Kyle Tucker that Kentucky is hot on his trail and that he is considering reclassifying to the 2015 class. Murray will be in Lexington this weekend for a Nike AAU tournament. Hold on to your hats.

Other Kentucky Sports

The Kentucky softball team (29-17) got back to their winning ways as they defeated WKU 1-0. In the process Wildcat junior Kelsey Nunley became second in the all time wins category at Kentucky. Good for her!
Kentucky baseball manager Gary Henderson was named as a pitching coach for the USA National Collegiate team. It's quite an honor and well deserved.

College Football

Jameis Winston is proving to be a pain in Jimbo Fisher's neck even though he is no longer on campus. Winston is now claiming that the now infmaous crab legs incident wasn't theft but more of like an "extra benefit" and that they were given to him. Florida State has pledged to work with the NCAA to see if any infractions did indeed occur. Publix, the store chain from which the crab legs came, disputes the claim that they were given to him. The shame is that WInston is probably the best football player in the draft but the dude cannot seem to get out of his own way. Knucklehead.

College Basketball

Rick Pitino took recruits Tyus Battle and Damian Lee laser tagging on their recruiting visit. Yes. Laser Tagging. The picture included in the article does look more like a collegiate laser tag team than an elite Division 1 basketball team.
Ohio State's DeAngelo Russell has declared for the NBA draft and is solidly in as a top ten pick. I am surprised it too him this long to announce this decision.

NBA Basketball

The playoffs continued last night. Atlanta took a 2-0 lead over Brooklyn, Memphis blew out Portland to lead that series 2-0, and San Antonio beat the LA Clippers thanks in large part to a monster game from 39 year old Tim Duncan. The Spurs tied that series 1-1, the only tied series in the playoffs at this juncture.
Scott Brooks was fired from the Oklahoma City Thunder yesterday for failing to reach the playoffs even though his super star player was injured almost all season and his other super star player was out for a significant amount of time. Two names Kentucky fans are very familair with have been mentioned to replace him and Calipari is not one of them. UConn's Kevin Ollie and Florida's Billy Donovan are the hot NBA coaching names right now.

Other News

Avengers: Age of Ultron may break every opening day record for movies when it is released on May 1st. Until Star Wars: The Force Awakens breaks those records in December. I was a big fan of the first Avengers movie and I am really looking forward to this one.