Welcome back to the second edition of my three things. I know it's been a long time since the first edition I did, but I thought it was high time to make this a regular piece here at ThirdDownThursdays. With that said, let's get into the three stories that stood out from this week.
The Chicago Bulls make Shaqtin'-a-Fool
The Chicago Bulls have been an abject embarrassment this year. One of the most irrelevant and mediocre teams in the NBA has coasted into this season with the nine seed and will take on the Atlanta Hawks at United Center in the Play-In Tournament. Even with that minor positive, the reason the Bulls are making headlines is sad but very funny as well. During the second quarter of Tuesday night's game against the New York Knicks, with the Bulls trailing by nine (36-27), Torrey Craig nabbed a steal and went for a self alley-oop. Unbenouced to Craig, Andre Drummond was trailing the play. He thought the lob was for him and went up for it simultaneously as Craig.
After the play, Drummond checked out with a rolled ankle and was wheeled to the locker room. The Bulls went on to lose 127-118 at the hands of the Knicks. This perfectly defines the Chicago Bulls season: great promise and potential ruined by reality and poor communication. Hopefully, this season will end before the Bulls get the honor of being rocked by the Boston Celtics in the first round.
Jordan Montgomery Dumps Scott Boras
After a horrendous off-season for the Scott Boras four (Cody Bellinger, Matt Chapman, Jordan Montgomery, and Blake Snell), the Diamondbacks lefty has dumped Boras as his agent. Per Kiley McDaniel of ESPN, Montgomery has hired Joel Wolfe and Nick Chanock from Wasserman.
After being known as the most difficult agent in baseball, if not all of North American sports, it seems that Boras has lost his touch. I, for one, cannot be happier, as hopefully, with his downfall, All-Star-level players aren't being signed a week before the season begins. The fact that it took until late Feburary and March for all four of Boras' major clients to be signed is not good for Boras or the MLB. It was one of the longest off-seasons after Shohei Ohtani and Eduardo Rodriguez signed in December. I hope that more of Boras' clients leave him so that they might get longer contracts than four one-year deals.
Marquette Says Goodbye to Two Big Pieces of Sweet 16 Team
Even though it wasn't the Final Four run that Marquette fans were hoping for, it was still a successful season for the Golden Eagles. Behind Tyler Kolek, Oso Ighodaro, and Kam Jones, Marquette made the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2013, when Jamil Wilson and Juan Toscano-Anderson were on the team. Unfortunately, the Golden Eagles will have to try and repeat that success in 2024 without two of their most important pieces. On Tuesday, "Point Oso" declared for the NBA Draft, followed by Kolek on Wednesday.
Oso and Kolek grew into some of the best players for Marquette over the last 5-to-10 years, with Kolek winning Big East Player of the Year in 2023, a 2023 Second Team All-American and helped lead Marquette to their first Big East Tournament title. Ighodaro, the longest-tenured Golden Eagle with this current iteration, grew from a player who appeared in just five games his freshman year under former head coach Steve Wojciechowski to one of the most dynamic big men in the country under Shaka Smart and an All-Big East Second Team member this past season. These two were some of the biggest contributors to Marquette basketball being put back on the map once Smart was hired.
Yahoo's latest mock draft has Kolek staying in Milwaukee, being drafted No. 35 overall by the Milwaukee Bucks, while Bleacher Report has Ighodaro getting selected at No. 48 by the Indiana Pacers.
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