Good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the Big Blue Nation, and welcome to the Tuesday Morning Quickies.
Today’s big story with a Kentucky angle, as near as I can tell, is the signing of DeMarcus Cousins by the NBA champion Golden State Warriors. Boogie went down last season with an Achilles tendon tear while playing with Anthony Davis and the New Orleans Pelicans. When Julius Randle was signed by New Orleans recently (how cool is replacing on UK former star with another in the NBA?), Boogie was sure to be moved if he didn’t move himself. It’s hard to argue he could’ve done much better than where he landed. Here’s an interesting tweet from Matt Jones:
Demarcus Cousins says he got no offers from the other 29 teams, so he called the Warriors and they offered, which is why he ended up with Golden Statepic.twitter.com/VTsEJVZSge
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) July 3, 2018
Seems hard to believe, but there it is. Anyway, it will be interesting to see how Boogie does, and he’s familiar with California after having played for seven years in Sacramento. So overall it looks… interesting, at least. Cousins is not known for his quiet forbearance on the court, and he’ll be sharing minutes with a kindred spirit in that regard in the person of Draymond Green. The Warriors might just break the team technical foul record next season along with winning the league.
But this looks like a great landing place for Cousins, and the Warriors may have come away with the steal of the summer.
Related: If you think DeMarcus Cousins to the Warriors is unfair, check out college football. Analysis: True.
Tweet of the Morning
Last point....if you are happy (as I am) about Reid Travis coming to Kentucky to play for a better team over Stanford, then I don’t know how you criticize Boogie
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) July 3, 2018
Truth, forsooth. I didn’t know people were actually criticizing Boogie for the move, but hey, I shouldn’t be surprised.
But to those who thing the NBA should step in and save the league from the eeeevil Warriors:
Many of you are asking why the NBA isn't vetoing DeMarcus Cousins to GS. The league can't veto a signing just because a player joins a super-team. The Chris Paul trade veto was an exception - the NBA owned that organization because it was being sold. The NBA can't veto this move.
— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) July 3, 2018
And, well, I’ll just leave this here.
The process has begun.
— ESPN (@espn) July 3, 2018
They are taking down the banner in Cleveland. pic.twitter.com/x5J7oJC8W5
Your Quickies:
Kentucky football
- How Kentucky can beat Florida this season. Well, it’s got to happen sometime, I just don’t know if I’ll be alive when it does…
Kentucky basketball
- Oscar Combs talks to Tom Leach in part 1 of a series.
- Returning talent will make the SEC even better this season. I hasten to add… “Especially Kentucky.”
- Mark Story talks about an interesting stat: for seven straight seasons, UK has finished ahead of U of L in the Director’s Cup — even the year when Louisville won their now-vacated NCAA Tournament championship. All this is discussed in the context of the rivalry between the two schools, and where it stands.
Other Kentucky sports
- UK finishes 17th in the Director’s Cup standings, its third-best finish ever and 7th top-30 in a row.
Links posts
College football
College basketball
- Lagerald Vick is heading back to Kansas. That will definitely raise their prospects next season.
- Michael McCann discusses the legal implications of the messy divorce between UConn and Kevin Ollie.
Other sports news
- Devin Booker is very upset with Phoenix for not telling him about their decision to release Tyler Ulis. Forget it, Devin. It’s NBA-town.
For those too young for the cultural reference:
Related:
The dumbest part was they made such a dumb move to save only 1.5 mil in cap space. What's that really accomplish? He was a really good second unit player especially for the price https://t.co/RE3U7lfzPj
— Eric Ashley (@attyericeashley) July 3, 2018
- Seriously? I mean, I’m no fan of Grayson Allen, but is this supposed to be funny in 2018? I’m not amused.
he still looks like every racist grandpa as a teenager. https://t.co/HA1OCKAnwg
— Chris Thomas (@ThomChristmas) July 3, 2018
Forget it, Glenn. It’s Twitter-town. And since I haven’t said it in a while, I’ll say it again: Twitter is the Devil.
Other news
- The birth of a planet.
- Hawai’i bans chemical sunscreens, alleging they may be harming coral reefs. The research seems … incomplete, to say the least, and the move premature. But be advised that if you’re going out there. So those fair-skinned among us must look to the white stuff or clothing. Or, just bring your own supply, until they ban that. For now, the ban only applies to products sold on the islands, but if I were a betting man, I’d bet that it won’t stop there. If you’re battling melanoma, like my wife, you might want to scratch Hawai’i off your bucket list sooner rather than later.
- Simulation breaks quantum computing record. Consider:
If a quantum computer were a racing car it wouldn’t so much speed past a Formula One, it would simply take a private shortcut to appear at the finishing line just after the starting gun fires. And if you walked over to look under the hood to see how it worked, the engine would promptly collapse to just one random component, like a sparkplug.
Well, that seems fast. And weird.