— Lebron James announced Friday that he is going to play for the 76ers next year; he signed a two-year, $8M contract. His son isn’t expected to join him in Philadelphia.
— 76ers’ President of Basketball Operations is Mike Gansey; 25 years ago, as a senior in high school, Gansey finished second in voting for Ohio’s Mr. Basketball.
The winner? Lebron James.
— Here is the salary structure next year for the 76ers’ rotation players:
$57,985,752- Joel Embiid
$57,736,350- Jaylen Brown
$40,770,520- Tyrese Maxey
$11,663,880- VJ Edgecombe
$9,000,000- Dean Wade
$6,000,000- Anfernee Simons
$3,876,529- Lebron James
$3,597,120- Labaron Phalon
— 76ers haven’t been to the Eastern Conference final since 2001. That could change.
— There is a kid who will play basketball for Kentucky next year, Milan Momcilovic, who will get paid $6M next year, to play IN COLLEGE. Imagine being a college kid and making more $$$ to play basketball than Lebron James?
— Nevada Wolf Pack, for some reason, is paying Robert Morris $80,000 to venture out to Reno to play their season opener November 2nd. Long time for Robert Morris.
— Vermont/Princeton are starting a home/home series, with this year’s game in Vermont, next year’s game in the Garden State. Those games will make for pretty good TV.
— Famous birthdays, July 25th:
Doug Drabek, 64
Torey Lovullo, 61
Matt LeBlanc, 59
Jon Barry, 57
Billy Wagner, 55
Tracy Murray, 55
Tee Martin, 48
Kevin Kouzmanoff, 45
Alvin Kamara, 31
Bryce Young, 25
1978 All-Star catcher Biff Pocoroba was born on this day in 1953.
— Watching games Friday night was a little weird; it was like Throwback Hat Night, but the hats didn’t match the (normal) uniforms the teams wore. I would say more than half the teams wore a cap from way in the past.
Angels wore their hat with a halo on top of the hat. Great hat
A’s wore a hat from 1968-70 in Oakland.
Rockies wore purple hats, which they should wear more often.
Pirates wore their dark tan hats from the late 70’s, excellent hats
Arizona’s hats were awful, looked like they bought them at Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Phillies, Orioles, White Sox wore alternate uniforms, with alternate hats.
Guardians wore the old hat with a pointy C on it.
Red Sox wore their Green Monster uniforms
Anyway, it was a little odd. Wonder if they sold a lot of hats online Friday night.
— Unusual schedule this weekend; Sunday afternoon, there is only one 4:00 game, and then one 7:20 game. Thats it. Not much action in the western time zone this weekend.
— Rangers 5, Mariners 4
Jake Burger homered, had three RBI.
Jacob Latz has 20 saves in 22 chances for Texas.
Rangers increased their lead in the AL West to 1.5 games.
— Padres 4, Marlins 2
Luis Rengifo pinch-hit a two-run homer in the 8th inning.
Padres only had five hits, but drew seven walks.
Marlins have now lost ten games in a row.
— Astros 9, White Sox 5
Trailing 5-0, Houston scored eight runs in the sixth inning.
Jose Altuve/Jeremy Pena both had three hits for the Astros.
Houston is 51-54, two games out of first in the horrendous AL West.
— A’s 2, Twins 0
Jacob Lopez allowed a hit in five scoreless IP.
A’s have won five games in a row against Minnesota.
A’s better keep wearing those freakin’ 1970 caps until they lose a game.
— If the baseball playoffs started today (they don’t):
AL: Rays, White Sox, Rangers. Wild Cards:
NL: Braves, Brewers, Dodgers. Wild Cards: Cubs, Phillies, Arizona
