At the NBA Awards, Mike Conley earned some hardware

On Monday night, the NBA Awards took place. Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo took home the big award of the night: MVP. But the ‘Greek Freak’ only won one award. A former member of the Ohio State Buckeyes, however, brought home two awards—both of them player voted.

Mike Conley wrapped up his time with the Memphis Grizzlies by winning the Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award and NBA Sportsmanship Award. For the Teammate of the Year honor, Conley led the field with 55 first-place votes (worth 10 points each) and 67 second-place votes (worth seven points each). In total, the all-time Grizzlies great ran away from the competition, capturing 1,369 points. Channing Frye came in second place with a point total of 1,083.

The Sportsmanship Award voting was a lot closer though. Conley held off Charlotte’s Kemba Walker, winning by just under 100 points. With 388 votes being cast for this award, Conley again led the field in first and second place votes. Ninety-six votes had Conley in first (worth 11 points each), while 102 had him in second (worth nine points each). Walker was right behind Conley in first place votes, capturing 94. However, the voters took the former Buckeye; in total, Conley had 2,928 points to Walker’s 2,830.

For Memphis, Conley was the only award recipient. On the other side, Milwaukee had a big night with Mike Budenholzer winning Coach of the Year and Jon Hurst winning Executive of the Year.

Utah coach Quin Snyder came in eighth place for Coach of the Year. Maybe with Conley’s arrival, Snyder could be in contention to win the hardware next season.

That’s looking too far into the future. In the meantime, congratulations to Conley for his big night at the NBA Awards!

“The challenge for Haskins, who has one year of college football starting experience, will be to master the offense quickly enough to overcome both Colt McCoy‘s knowledge of it and Case Keenum‘s grossly underrated skillset.”

— Mike Florio | NBC Sports/ProFootballTalk

ProFootballTalk is counting down the top storylines heading into the upcoming NFL season. At No. 29 are the Washington Redskins and Dwayne Haskins, with the question being when Haskins will get his start.

Author Mike Florio makes a good point about the ‘when,’ as Haskins has to overcome both Colt McCoy and Case Keenum for the job. Haskins only has one year of college starting experience, but that one season was a great one. He set numerous Ohio State records, and ended up being a finalist for the Heisman.

In an article with Hogs Haven, Gabe Ward and I discussed Haskins at length. Personally, if I was running the Redskins, I wouldn’t put Haskins into the starting role unless I absolutely had to. If he’s truly the franchise quarterback—one that you’d hope to get 10-plus years out of—then it makes no sense to throw him onto the field at the first available opportunity. Keenum and McCoy have experience and know the playbook. Let Haskins get time to learn the system before playing him in meaningful games.

But who knows what’s going to happen when September comes around. If Washington is having trouble with McCoy and Keenum, maybe we’ll see Haskins make a start. And maybe if Alex Smith makes some serious progress this summer and early fall, he could be back under center come November/December.

It’s a great storyline for the offseason, and I’m shocked that it’s so low.

There are Buckeyes in every conceivable sport this summer. In the FIFA Women’s World Cup, three Buckeyes represented their countries; and now at the Wimbledon qualifying rounds, there’s a Buckeye advancing.

Francesca Di Lorenzo won her first qualifying match Tuesday, downing Belgium’s Maryna Zanevska in straight sets (7-6, 7-6).

For the 21-year-old Di Lorenzo, the road to make the Wimbledon field continues on Wednesday. She’ll face American Lauren Davis in the second round. The match is penciled in to start no earlier than 1 p.m. local time—taking place on Court 3.

At Ohio State, Di Lorenzo helped bring home a national title for the women’s squad. Her 2015 victory in the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championship final proved that she was one of the best tennis players on the college circuit. Earning All-American honors in the scarlet and gray, Di Lorenzo turned pro in December 2017. Since turning pro, she’s reached the second round of the U.S. Open, achieving that in 2018.

The winner of Di Lorenzo-Davis advances to the final round of qualifying on Thursday. A win in the final round secures a spot in the main draw, which will take place from July 1-14.

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