If the NBA draft were as crucial to a prospect\u2019s future as we\u2019re led to believe, Portsmouth\u2019s Dorian Finney-Smith wouldn\u2019t be enjoying a long career after recently signing a four-year, $53 million deal to join Kevin Durant on a Houston Rockets team that\u2019s a favorite to win the West. At 32, Finney-Smith, who went undrafted in 2016, has developed into one of the game\u2019s toughest wings. The draft may be a good show, but draft analysis is dodgy.<\/p>\n
Funny business: Members of the D.C. Council who have yet to vote on whether to approve the Commanders\u2019 stadium project were wined and dined at a fancy Georgetown restaurant this week by franchise brass. If you think a norm or two was violated during the evening, join the club. Whatever was served, ethics weren\u2019t on the menu.<\/p>\n
Idle thought: In the unlikely event D.C. doesn\u2019t follow through on the stadium deal, it would open the door for Virginia to make a bid. As a Virginia taxpayer, then, I\u2019m rooting for D.C.<\/p>\n
The invasion: Virginia, Virginia Tech, Duke and North Carolina are just some of the schools shoring up their men\u2019s basketball rosters with pros from Europe and elsewhere \u2026 who under the NCAA\u2019s pay-for-play plan become pros over here. Meanwhile, spare a thought for American teens who lose athletic scholarships to imports. Nobody\u2019s even pretending anymore that this business has anything to do with college.<\/p>\n
Curious: The University of South Carolina confirms that before the Knicks signed Mike Brown as their new coach, they reached out to three-time NCAA champion Dawn Staley. An inspired impulse? Or an act of desperation?<\/p>\n
What to expect: A year from now, when World Cup soccer games are played on stifling North America afternoons so that Europeans can watch in prime time, the impact of the sun and heat and humidity on players and spectators will be a major talking point. Goes without saying that conditions will have a negative effect on the quality of play and fan comfort.<\/p>\n
Net loss: Oliver Tarvet, an obscure British tennis player who won $135,000 with a first-round Wimbledon victory, can accept only a fraction of his prize money because he\u2019s still playing for the University of San Diego. The kid can\u2019t collect his full winnings, but college basketball and football players are signing six- and seven-figure deals. Make it make sense.<\/p>\n
Stale history: During Wimbledon, we\u2019re reminded again that a U.S. man hasn\u2019t won a Grand Slam singles title since Andy Roddick in 2003. This does not keep me up at night.<\/p>\n
Swede-heart of a run: Fair enough that fans and media measure tennis legacies by the sheer volume of major titles. But if we\u2019re going to play the numbers game, what\u2019s always seemed uniquely remarkable to me is Bjorn Borg winning 11 Slam titles (five Wimbledons, six French Opens) by 25.<\/p>\n
TV timeout: I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if ESPN injected some talk about LeBron James and the Lakers into its Wimbledon coverage.<\/p>\n
Confusing: By accepting a 10-week suspension under the NFL\u2019s personal conduct policy while still claiming his innocence of sexual misconduct, ex-Ravens kicker Justin Tucker seems to be suffering a serious mental disconnect.<\/p>\n
Future watch: One group apparently not impressed by the Steelers\u2019 signing of Aaron Rodgers \u2014 or confident in Mike Tomlin \u2014 are NFL oddsmakers. Pittsburgh is projected to be favored in only six of 17 games this season.<\/p>\n
Next move: The Orioles shook off the worst of their early-season doldrums to breathe a little life into their season. Only fogging the mirror, though, has them entrenched at the bottom of the AL East. With the trade deadline approaching, it\u2019s time to back up the truck.<\/p>\n
Bob Molinaro is a former Virginian-Pilot sports columnist. His Weekly Briefing runs Fridays in The Pilot and Daily Press. He can be reached at bob5molinaro@gmail.com and via Twitter@BobMolinaro.<\/p>\n
Originally Published: July 3, 2025 at 12:56 PM EDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If the NBA draft were as crucial to a prospect\u2019s future as we\u2019re led to believe, Portsmouth\u2019s Dorian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,325,165,1203,6,12,9,66,198],"class_list":{"0":"post-147062","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-draft","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-college-sports","10":"tag-latest-headlines","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-nba-draft","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-sports-columnists"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114795939910233020","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}