No doubt Ben McAdoo is brushing up his resume this morning. While the Giants’ ownership has historically been patient with its GMs and coaches over the years, the team’s performance this year has become an embarrassment. It’s one thing to lose a lot of games but quite another to stop trying, have players suspended week to week and then hear the anonymous quotes from disgruntled players. The Giants must have hit bottom now – they allowed the SF 49ers to amass almost 500 yards of offense and a rookie QB slice threw them for big plays. You have to figure the owners will pull the plug this week and put anyone in for the rest of the season. Actually they could pull a Dolan and have Jerry Reese be the coach a la what the Knicks did with Isiah Thomas back in the day. But think about it: McAdoo made the playoffs in his first season and now is on the verge of getting fired. The reality is that if the team played hard through injuries, they would probably give him one more season. But this is a disaster and very unusual for a Giants’ team.
It’s been an interesting NFL season. Really no great teams – a few solid ones in the Eagles, Saints, Vikings, Pats – and a few teams that may hit their stride late with momentum going into the playoffs. The Steelers win ugly every week but have some veterans – they should be better as the season progresses. The Cowboys, despite all the hype, are 5-4. The NFL has had a ton of negative press this season with the kneeling, ratings drop, empty seats showing on tv and the Ezekiel Elliott saga. However, SU says that an exciting finish and a good playoff run will change all that.
The Yankee managerial interviews march on. Now even David Cone and John Flaherty have thrown their hats into the ring. I think once they saw Aaron Boone being interviewed who has zero managerial or coaching experience, they figured why not? SU thinks Cone would be a great pitching coach – he is very insightful on tv. I am not a Flaherty fan at least on the broadcasts. But let me say this again: winning and losing comes down to what happens on the field and the moves you make late in the game in many cases. You can be a great communicator and great with the media but in New York, bottom line matters. Girardi was the right man for the job. The 2018 version of the Yankees is built to win. Do you really want to test drive a rookie manager with no experience? SU say Rob Thompson is the natural choice. Make the move and let’s go.
Knicks – Cavs on tonight. SU continues to worry about Porzingis with injuries. Teams are putting much shorter defenders on him who are trying to get into his body when he shoots. That also means he will often land on their feet on the follow-through on his shots (as many on the SU subscriber list know from playing pick-up games over the years). A sprained ankle or worse waiting to happen. The refs need to protect him more.
Random observation: Sloane Stephens, who won the women’s US Open this year, has not won a match since. Just when you think her career is ready to take off, she is taking a big step back.
Sports Update Intergalactic 
The Yankees managerial search seems entirely ordinary in a vacuum but, when put in context, makes less and less sense. They are clearly looking to play the field, cast a wide net, and see what’s out there. Fine. Except, Girardi was a known quantity with a winning record who proved to have success with aging, boring rosters as well as younger ones. He may have issues communicating with some players but still communicated well enough to guide them to the playoffs and within a game of the world series. The team seems poised for success with some minor tweaks plus the benefit of this season’s experience. How is this the time to dump the manager just to see what’s out there?
Here’s the analogy. Starlin Castro has had a nice career and is coming off a good season where he suffered a bit with injuries. Does he need to be replaced? Well, if Jose Altuve is available you make the change. But you don’t get rid of Castro just to see who else is available. Why? Because you’re more than likely to find someone worse.
Now, managerial performance is tougher to assess than on the field performance and it may not make a huge difference one way or the other. But the job touches all aspects of the game and the wrong guy could hurt a lot of the progress that the team has made.
Also, I would like Cashman to look at the Giants and really consider the value of an organization catering to the needs of younger players. The Giants (not Macadoo, but the entire organization) decided to give Bekham a free pass to do whatever he wanted while making him the face of the franchise. Is that the only reason they’re losing? No. Injuries have hit them bad and they have some roster flaws. But the team has not fostered a culture of accountability and resiliency. Note that the Yankees displayed the opposite this season. Cashman called out Bird. Girardi called out Sanchez and alternately demoted Chapman and Betances. I’m sure this upset the players. But it also mostly worked.
Good point about the Giants and Beckham. I think OBJ contributes to a culture of anything goes as long as you are winning and a lack of discipline. He is out of control every game and others play into that. I find it hard to believe that Cashman does not have his “guy” in mind here and is just talking to everyone. If they actually bring in A-Rod for an interview, then I predict he is definitely the guy as he will do quite well in an interview. Maybe that’s the play: “we brought in 15 people and he just blew us away in the interview!”
If Porzingis is not protected now which includes his teammates and head coach and he goies down for any extended period of time the season is lost. Whose is our enforcer?
Kyle O’Quinn is the enforcer or maybe Noah can do that in the 7 minutes a game that he will be playing off the bench.