Where will Kevin Stefanski go after being fired by the Cleveland Browns? Yahoo Sports’ Andrew Siciliano, Charles Robinson and Frank Schwab discuss the Browns’ future as well as a flurry of head coaches getting fired on “Black Monday” in the NFL. Later in the show, the crew breaks down Zac Taylor and Joe Schoen getting another season to figure things out with their teams. Closing things out, the guys look back at the pivotal results from Week 18 before discussing their “One More Thing.”
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(4:30) – Browns fire HC Kevin Stefanski
(16:25) – Raiders fire HC Pete Carroll
(25:00) – Kirk Cousins on his future in Atlanta
(37:50) – Cardinals fire HC Jonathan Gannon
(46:18) – HC Zac Taylor and GM Joe Schoen get another shot
(53:10) – Week 18 recap
(58:45) – One More Thing
Who will the Cleveland Browns hire as their next head coach? (Photo by Perry Knotts/Getty Images)
The Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 drew 23.9 million viewers, which made it the most viewed College Football Playoff game in the 12-team playoff era, ESPN announced Monday. The game peaked at about 25.6 million viewers. Thatâs up roughly 13% from last season.
This year’s Rose Bowl also beat last yearâs national championship game by a significant margin. Ohio Stateâs 34-23 win over Notre Dame averaged about 22.1 million viewers.
Michiganâs win over Washington in 2024, when the College Football Playoff was still in a four-team format, had about 25 million viewers.
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After a rare scoreless opening period at the Rose Bowl, Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza and the Hoosiers put up 24 unanswered points to blow the game wide open in Pasadena.
Mendoza ended up throwing three touchdowns and only two incompletions in the 38-3 win, which was the worst loss in Alabama postseason history. All three of his touchdowns were to different wide receivers, and running backs Kaelon Black and Roman Hemby both scored while combining for 188 rushing yards.
Indiana, now 14-0 on the season, will take on No. 5 Oregon in the Peach Bowl on Friday in Atlanta. A win there will send the Hoosiers to the national championship game for the first time in school history.
Former Penn State quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer has transferred to Virginia Tech, reuniting with head coach James Franklin in Blacksburg.
Grunkemeyer started the last seven games of the season for Penn State after former starter Drew Allar broke his ankle in Week 7 against Northwestern. The redshirt freshman threw for 1,339 yards, 8 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. Penn State went 4-3 during that stretch and won the last four games with Grunkemeyer as the starter.
With the Hokies, Grunkemeyer will reunite with Franklin, who coached him during his first two seasons at Penn State. Franklin was fired from Penn State in October following a 3-3 start to the season. Penn State’s associate head coach and cornerbacks coach, Terry Smith, served as interim head coach.
Campbell has already brought in former Iowa State offensive coordinator Taylor Mouser and 19 former Iowa State players to Penn State, including quarterback Rocco Becht, who started the past three years at Iowa State.
Anderson is the No. 4 receiver in On3’s portal rankings and the 26th overall player available. He tallied 53 catches for 787 yards and six touchdowns across two seasons at NC State. Most of that production (39 grabs, 629 yards, five TDs) came this past season as a sophomore, when Anderson led the team in receiving yards. He has two years of eligibility remaining.
The 6-foot-3, 185-pound Anderson will be brought in to help replace the production of Makai Lemon and JaâKobi Lane, both of whom are declaring for the NFL Draft. Quarterback Jayden Maiava is returning for the Trojans in 2026.
Last summer, Michael Bradley was back at work in northern New Jersey, returning to the Major League Soccer organization that two decades earlier had paved his way to a long and prosperous playing career.
Eager to remain involved in the sport that had consumed his family since his birth, he had taken the reins of the developmental squad at Red Bull New York, following in the footsteps of his father, Bob, who over 43 years had coached at the amateur, pro and international levels.
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Less than two years removed from anchoring Toronto FCâs midfield, Michael got his head-coaching feet wet in the U.S. third division, shaping teenagers before small crowds at a cozy college complex in suburban New Jersey.
It wasnât a lot, but it was a start.
Coaching the first team someday, though, wasnât a distant thought, either.
âIt was in the back of my mind, for sure,â the two-time U.S. World Cup midfielder said Monday. âIt was something I hoped to, with time, earn [and] work for. I didn’t think it was something that was going to come necessarily this quickly.â
Half a year was quick, indeed. Promoted last month by an MLS founding member that 30 years later is still seeking its first league championship, the 38-year-old Bradley shared his thoughts about his big leap at an introductory news conference Monday at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey.
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When approached about the first-team job, Bradley did not hesitate â even though his coaching portfolio was thin. (His experience consisted of assisting his father at a Norwegian club and being a guest assistant with the Canadian national team.)
âHow in the world could you say no?â he said. âIt’s like anything in life: You could ask yourself a million questions. Is it the right time? Am I ready? What about this? What about that? But certain things come, and youâve got to go for it. And so this one took me like a half a second to basically realize we’re going for this one.â
Bradley is very much his fatherâs son â the shaved head, the intense eyes, the deliberate way he speaks. Bob Bradley was Michaelâs first pro coach in 2004-05 with the New York/New Jersey MetroStars, who, upon an ownership change in 2006, became the New York Red Bulls. (They are now Red Bull New York, matching the naming style of the conglomerateâs soccer teams around the world.)
Throughout his playing career, Michael displayed unmistakable leadership qualities, most notably as the longtime national team captain. Coaching seemed like a natural next step, and combined with Michaelâs immediate success with the developmental squad, Red Bull officials believed he was ready for MLS.
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âYou see what he’s able to do,â said Julian de Guzman, the teamâs head of sport. âHe’s young, he’s hungry, he’s fresh, he’s ready to go. Those are the simple things that get you started to say, âYeah, this is the right person.ââ
Many former American MLS players have gone on to coach in the league. A few former U.S. national team players have followed such a path as well. Except for goalkeeper Brad Friedel, no one matches Bradleyâs long list of accomplishments.
His 151 caps rank third in U.S. history, and his 17 goals are tied for 10th. Over 19 years, he appeared in almost 600 pro matches, starting and ending in MLS, with stops in the Netherlands, Germany, England and Italy in between.
A box-to-box midfielder with attacking and defending responsibilities, Bradley was admittedly an unglamorous player who used his smarts as much as his might and footwork to get the job done. Those qualities, he believes, prepared him for a coaching career.
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âI was never a player that could step on a field ⌠score two goals and win the team the game,â he said. âThat was never going to be me. And so from a young age, I knew that to be at my best, I needed to make sure everybody around me was at their best, that the team was functioning in the best possible way.â
Given that starting point, Bradley says he thought about the game in different ways.
âWhen you have roles in teams that challenge you to think about others, that challenge you to be a leader, that challenge you to think about more than just yourself,â he said, âthen the part of when you get the opportunity moving into coaching â how you connect the dots in those ways, how you engage a group, how you take the ideas you have in your head and try to instill them in a team â those thought processes have been going on for a lot of years. Obviously, now, I get the opportunity to run with it.â
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Bradley will take over a team that missed the playoffs for the first time since 2009, snapping the longest streak in MLS. He replaces Sandro Schwarz, who in 2024 guided the club to its second MLS Cup appearance in 30 seasons but was fired in October after a 12-15-7 campaign.
Bradleyâs path back to the club began more than a year ago, when he engaged with Mario Gomez, who oversees strategy for Red Bullâs soccer ambitions worldwide. Soon, Bradley was meeting with New York executives and JĂźrgen Klopp, the former Liverpool coach who had just joined Red Bullâs global operations.
Bradley spent time in Red Bull circles in Europe before he was offered the developmental squad.
âI literally said, âWhen do I get to start?ââ he said. âAs a young coach, I was so excited for the next step in my career. I love the game. I’m proud of what I’ve done. I’m proud of the career I had as a player, but there is a big part of me that wants more.â
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Bradleyâs work with young players, not to mention winning the championship, raised his profile within the organization. And when the first-team job opened, the club turned to him again.
âThis is an incredible opportunity,â Bradley said. âIt’s a huge honor, and it is something that I am going to commit my absolute life to to make sure we are able to put a team on the field that our fans are proud of, to represent our club, this community in a way where everybody who comes into this stadium feels a part of.â
âWeâll evaluate him at the end of the week,â Udoka said, via Sports Illustratedâs Lachard Binkley. âNeed to get the swelling, the pain tolerance down and mobility, but youâre looking at a probably 10-14 days type thing.â
Roughly a minute into the game Saturday at the American Airlines Center, ĹengĂźn went up to try to fight for a defensive rebound against Mavericks center Daniel Gafford. As ĹengĂźn came down, his right ankle rolled hard. That sent him crashing to the court, where he remained until play stopped at the other end.
ĹengĂźn eventually limped off the court and was quickly ruled out of the game.
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He is in the middle of a career season with the Rockets. The 23-year-old, who made his first All-Star Game last year, has put up a career-high 21.8 points this season while averaging 9 rebounds and 6.5 assists.
While this will interrupt his dominant start to the season, and ĹengĂźn has a history of ankle injuries, the timeline this time seems relatively minor. If ĹengĂźn is out the full two weeks, he’d be back in time for the teamâs matchup with the San Antonio Spurs on Jan. 20, meaning he would miss eight games.
The Rockets enter Monday nightâs contest against the Phoenix Suns with a 21-11 record, which has them fifth in the Western Conference standings. Saturdayâs loss to the Mavericks snapped a four-game winning streak.
The NFL playoff field is set, and it’s missing half of the league’s top 10 highest-paid quarterbacks in average annual value.
Spotrac made note of that fact Monday, a day after the dust settled on the NFL’s regular season. Of the league’s top 10 highest-paid quarterbacks, Josh Allen, Trevor Lawrence, Jordan Love, Brock Purdy and Justin Herbert are all in the postseason.
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Dak Prescott, Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa, Jared Goff and Lamar Jackson are not.
Which got us thinking: Are teams hamstringing their playoff chances in a salary-capped league by paying premiums for quarterbacks? Is it too difficult in the modern NFL to build a competitive roster around a quarterback playing on a premium salary?
Quarterback is the most important position in football, if not in all of sports. It’s difficult to win a Super Bowl without a high-end signal-caller, though Super Bowls have been won with Nick Foles, Jeff Hostetler, Jim Plunkett, Brad Johnson and Trent Dilfer.
But having a Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning or Joe Montana is historically the best ingredient for success. And they cost money.
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Here’s a look at the annual salaries of starting quarterbacks for all 32 NFL teams, grouped by whether they made the playoffs. Players with top-10 salaries are in bold.
Playoff quarterbacks
Jordan Love, Packers: $55 million
Trevor Lawrence, Jaguars: $55 million
Josh Allen, Bills: $55 million
Brock Purdy, 49ers: $55 million
Justin Herbert, Chargers: $52.5 million
Jalen Hurts, Eagles: $51 million
Matthew Stafford, Lions: $42 million
Sam Darnold, Seahawks: $33.5 million
Aaron Rodgers, Steelers: $13.65 million
Caleb Williams, Bears: $9.9 million (rookie contract)
Bryce Young, Panthers: $9.5 million (rookie contract)
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Drake Maye, Patriots: $9.2 million (rookie contract)
C.J. Stroud, Texans: $9.1 million (rookie contract)
Bo Nix, Broncos: $4.7 million (rookie contract)
Average salary: $32.5 million
Non-playoff quarterbacks
Dak Prescott, Cowboys: $60 million
Joe Burrow, Bengals: $55 million
Tua Tagovailoa, Dolphins: $53.1 million
Jared Goff, Lions: $53 million
Lamar Jackson, Ravens: $52 million
Kyler Murray, Cardinals: $46.1 million
Kirk Cousins, Falcons: $45 million
Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs: $45 million
Geno Smith, Raiders: $37.5 million
Baker Mayfield, Buccaneers: $33.3 million
Justin Fields, Jets: $20 million
Daniel Jones, Colts: $14 million
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Cam Ward, Titans: $12.2 million (rookie contract)
Jayden Daniels, Commanders: $9.4 million (rookie contract)
J.J. McCarthy, Vikings: $5.5 million (rookie contract)
Jaxson Dart, Giants: $4.2 million (rookie contract)
Tyler Shough, Saints: $2.7 million (rookie contract)
Shedeur Sanders, Browns: $1.2 million (rookie contract)
Average salary: $30.5 million
The rookie contract edge
It’s notable that five of the 12 playoff quarterbacks are playing on rookie contracts, which are capped by the collective bargaining agreement. That cost control is extremely valuable, and optimizing roster construction around rookie quarterback contracts is a proven formula for success. Since the inception of the rookie wage scale in 2011, the Seattle Seahawks with Russell Wilson (2014 season) and the Kansas City Chiefs with Mahomes (2019 season) have navigated the rookie wage scale to Super Bowl victories.
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This, season, the Patriots have an MVP candidate in Maye who’s the ninth-highest paid player on the team. Nix playing on a $4.7 million salary has allowed the Broncos to build a Super Bowl contender despite Wilson’s disastrous contract remaining on the books.
Stroud, meanwhile, is a veteran quarterback in his third season who’s surrounded by one of the NFL’s fiercest defenses. It would not be a surprise to see any of them playing in or winning the Super Bowl in February.
This is an optimal way to build a Super contender in the short window available to pay quarterbacks on a rookie contract. This, of course, requires hitting successfully on a QB in the draft who can lead a team to contention at a young age.
And it’s also, obviously, not the only path to success. Thirteen of the 15 Super Bowls won since the inception of the rookie wage scale have been won by quarterbacks not playing on a rookie deal.
Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow aren’t in the playoffs, but that doesn’t mean their contracts are mistakes.
(Todd Olszewski via Getty Images)
Are big QB contracts worth the bite?
At some point, those rookie quarterbacks will be due for extensions. And if you’ve got a high-end quarterback on your hands who’s due to be paid, there’s little choice but to pay him. And that doesn’t mean that you can’t build a successful roster around said quarterback. Yes, half of the top 10 paid quarterbacks will be watching the playoffs from home. But it’s a little absurd to suggest that’s an indictment of paying top quarterbacks their market value.
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Burrow missed most of the season due to injury. Do the Bengals also have roster construction issues? Absolutely. But that’s an issue that’s plagued the franchise for pretty much the entirety of its existence under Brown family ownership, with or without a premium quarterback on the roster.
The Cowboys likewise have roster concerns that limited their upside. Like with the Bengals, it’s fairer to take a look at the decades-long management under team owner Jerry Jones (and the defense specifically this season) than point to the $60 million salary of Prescott, who was excellent this season, to explain why the Cowboys aren’t in the playoffs.
It’s difficult to argue the Lions and Ravens didn’t build strong rosters around Goff and Jackson. There’s talent on both sides of the ball on both teams outside of their quarterbacks. And Jackson was clearly limited by injuries this season, while the Lions were ravaged by injuries of their own.
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In the end, 14 of the league’s 32 teams make the playoffs. The Ravens and Lions just missed out, but it wouldn’t be a surprise for either or both to return to contention next season.
And then there’s Tagovailoa. His contract at this point was clearly a mistake. He got benched at the end of the season, and his time in Miami very well may be done. The Dolphins would surely take a do-over on his deal if they could.
But the Prescott, Jackson, Burrow and Goff deals? There are surely no regrets from their respective franchises. Teams without high-end quarterbacks would certainly jump at the chance to take on those contracts.
The Miami Dolphins appear to be done with quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
The feeling sounds mutual.
A day after the conclusion of Miami’s season, Tagovailoa was asked by reporters as he cleaned out his locker Monday how he would feel about getting a fresh start.
Per the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson, Tagovailoa declined to speak further when asked to clarify if he understood if the question was about playing for another team.
The six-season tenure of Tagovailoa as Miami’s starting quarterback appears to have reached its conclusion.
Tua’s decline in 2025
When healthy, Tagovailoa has been Miami’s starter since Week 7 of his 2020 rookie season. Or he was, at least, until Week 16 of this season. Amid significant decline and arguably the worst season of his career, head coach Mike McDaniel benched Tagovailoa for the final three games of the regular season.
Tagovailoa was out, and seventh-round rookie Quinn Ewers was in. Ewers started Miami’s final three games as Tagovailoa watched from the bench.
Has Tua Tagovailoa played his last game with the Dolphins?
(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
McDaniel: There will be a QB competition next season
McDaniel told reporters Monday the team would meet with Tagovailoa on Tuesday morning to discuss his season and his future. He also said there will be a quarterback competition for the starting job next season. Who will be involved in that competition is unclear.
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Parting with Tagovailoa wouldn’t be easy. The Dolphins signed Tagovailoa to a four-year, $212 million extension to his rookie contract in 2024 following his first and only Pro Bowl campaign in 2023. He led the league in passing yardage that season and has also led the NFL in completion percentage, quarterback rating and yards per attempt in different seasons.
But he regressed in 2025 as his accuracy, efficiency and deep-ball accuracy declined. He averaged 190 passing yards per game after posting 260-plus yards in each of his previous three seasons. He threw 20 touchdowns and a career-high 15 interceptions.
He’s entering the second year of his extension next season and will account for a $56.4 million salary cap hit. Trading Tagovailoa would require a team willing to take on his contract in return.
Even after all the turmoil in Ann Arbor in recent weeks, Bryce Underwood isnât going anywhere.
The Wolverines’ quarterback announced Monday on social media that heâs returning to Michigan for his sophomore season.
Underwood was a five-star Rivals.com recruit and the No. 1-ranked player in his class coming out of high school. He threw for 2,428 yards with 11 touchdowns and 9 interceptions during his freshman season with the Wolverines and completed just better than 60% of his passes while leading the program to a 9-4 record.
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But itâs what happened after the team’s final game of the regular season that could have led to Underwood hitting the transfer portal.
Michigan coach Sherrone Moore was fired last month and then arrested hours later in a massive scandal. Michigan fired Moore for cause after it said he âengaged in an inappropriate relationship with a staff member.â He was later detained by police and eventually charged with third-degree home invasion, stalking, and breaking and entering or entering without breaking.
Although his freshman season wasnât as successful as he might’ve hoped, and it ended with a scandal that overshadowed the play on the field, Underwood is sticking around for another shot. Thatâs a huge win for the Wolverines and Whittingham as they get started in a new era.
In sports, there is a collective mission for franchises, whether theyâre in the hunt for a championship or starting over.
That mission is acquiring, however possible, a genuine superstar.
In basketball, where only five players occupy the floor per team at one time, the superstar has an oversized effect in the context of winning a championship.
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However, in the process of identifying that player, teams end up kissing a lot of frogs. Some of those frogs turn out fine, stars in their own right but never quite cracking that barrier to turn into princes or basketball kings.
With that in mind, let’s explore Young and a pair of talented players who might struggle to become superstars, and what needs to change for them to switch the narrative.
It appears the Hawks and Trae Young are ready to part ways. (Photo by Mark Blinch/Getty Images)
(Mark Blinch via Getty Images)
Trae Young, Atlanta Hawks
All right, so here’s a guy who can space the floor, score at a high rate and is genuinely an elite playmaker. Surely, Young is a superstar through whom you can run everything and win a title, right?
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Well, it’s tricky.
Young can shoot and defenses are tuned into his ability, but he’s never been efficient enough to be worth the plethora of long-range shots he does take (35.1% career 3-point shooter), nor is he a good enough off-ball shooter to act as a decoy.
Young is, in many ways, a heliocentric player, who at 6-foot-1 can’t consistently see over the defense and is so compromised defensively, the Hawks have to make continuous adjustments to hide him.
But all right, surely that’s not enough to prevent him from entering superstar category?
Yes and no.
When Young is on, and he strikes that perfect balance between shot-taking, playmaking and making timely decisions, he comes close.
However, at his size he has to overcome so many hurdles. Unlike Jalen Brunson, a sturdier point guard of similar height, Young is slight and bounces off defenders easier. While that gets him to the free-throw line, it doesn’t allow him to take bumps and pull up in the midrange area when the need arises.
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Essentially, Young is the ultimate finesse point guard who lacks physicality and has to consistently think his way out of trouble, as opposed to having the ability to barrel through it.
That said, the fact that Young isn’t your prototypical off-ball shooter doesn’t help. He’s best with the ball in his hands â to a fault. For others to shine, which there is a need for, Young does have to relinquish some responsibility and embrace areas of the game he’s been otherwise weak in.
The good news is Young should be able to correct his tendencies without going through years of adjustments.
If he’s traded from Atlanta and lands with a team that understands how to tap into his off-ball potential â which is present â there’s a decent chance we could see a player who gets closer to becoming a real superstar.
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Paolo Banchero, Orlando Magic
In the NBA world, DeMar DeRozan has never been viewed as a franchise superstar. He takes too many inefficient shots, he milks the shot clock, is a good but not great playmaker, and he generally lacks the off-ball chops to weave his playing style into the larger fabric of an NBA offense.
Through that perspective, why should Banchero be viewed any differently than DeRozan?
Banchero’s a career 44.6% shot-maker. That would be formidable if that had been his 3-point percentage, but thatâs his overall efficiency.
His two-point conversion rate of 49.2% is far below what a 6-10, 250-pound agile big man, with athleticism and touch, should be able to produce.
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Twenty-seven percent of his shot attempts are from inside the arc between 10 feet and the 3-point line. He doesn’t bend defenses with his off-ball capabilities, and opposing defenses are frankly fine with Banchero leaning into midrange shots, as they know his efficiency â or lack thereof â won’t punish them.
So what can Banchero do to turn the corner?
Outside of adding a far more reliable 3-point shot (31.4% career shooter), Banchero needs to significantly increase his at-rim volume. Only 22.9% of his attempts are from three feet and in, which seems like a bit of a problem when you’re that good at twisting and turning your body off dribble moves.
If Banchero leans into a more calculated shot diet, his entire career changes.
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The presence of a reliable 3-point shot would allow Banchero to move more effortlessly off the ball and keep defenses moving by dragging a defender with him. That opens up driving lanes for teammates and drastically improves the offense by providing more layers for players to utilize.
(Finally, it also wouldn’t hurt him to become a better rebounder, all things considered. At his size, with his athleticism and raw strength, he shouldn’t be in his fourth season of not averaging double-figures.)
Zion Williamson, New Orleans Pelicans
We don’t have to go as deep into Williamson, as Bancheroâs case laid out the foundation for a lot of the weaknesses we find in quality players who arenât superstars.
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Williamson is an even worse 3-point shooter than Banchero and also is just a good, but not great, playmaker.
So let’s focus on that element.
If a player is a high-level scorer who consistently draws double-teams and is the key name on the scouting report, it’s crucial to have the ability to leverage that scoring as a means of passing the ball.
Williamson’s issue of not being a floor-spacer hurts him a great deal in the playmaking department. Defenders are very aware he’s not a threat from beyond 15 feet, so they’re giving him that shot while understanding they have to play him for the drive and not the shot.
Of Williamson’s career shot attempts, 94.1% have been within 10 feet of the basket. Teams are thoroughly aware of this, meaning no one really pays attention to any action Williamson involves himself in â unless said action is close to the rim. If he gives the ball up 20 feet away from the basket, expect a cut and a forthcoming give-and-go attempt.
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Like Banchero, Williamson doesn’t bend defenses, considering how much he’s on the ball and how little he actually shoots, and that makes him both predictable and fairly easy to plan for.
Imagine Williamson as the primary initiator in a Finals series, where every possible adjustment has been made.
Is he consistently capable of getting into the paint and converting at a 70% clip? Probably not.
Is he consistently capable of making the right pass after he’s broken the first line of defense? Again, probably not.
Then add in the fact that his defense is only occasionally fine and his rebounding is historically poor, and what are you then left with?
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A star, sure, but one who can lead you to the promised land? Highly doubtful. If anything, Williamson is intriguing as a play finisher you put around a genuine playmaking superstar, and that’s more or less the only setting in which he makes sense.
So what does all this mean?
While there isn’t a straightforward answer to what makes a championship-winning superstar, we can make certain educated guesses based on the players we’ve covered.
A general lack of floor-spacing is highly problematic. It sounds simplistic, but it’s anything but. Star players demanding attention from everywhere on the floor is utterly crucial, unless they’re so ridiculously overpowering in every other aspect of the game (see: Antetokounmpo, Giannis).
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Being just a good playmaker is a problem unless your primary skill, such as scoring, is so elite from both a volume and efficiency standpoint, that it simply isn’t necessary, and you have multiple other strengths within the game, such as rebounding and being able to defend at a high level (see: Tatum, Jayson).
All of the above should also have multiple teams raising long-term questions about what type of player Duke star Cameron Boozer will be.
The freshman forward who is projected to go top three in the 2026 NBA Draft puts up explosive box scores every game, averaging 23 points, 9.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists, but will his playmaking translate to the NBA to become a primary superstar?
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What about his defense? Is that good enough at the NBA level to negate what could be average 3-point efficiency, a so-so passing instinct and good â but not great â rebounding?
Boozer, at 6-9, 250, is good and will unquestionably be a rock-solid NBA player, but the archetype of player he is reminds of Banchero, and to some extent Williamson.
Can he add layers to his game and become a player you can go to and eventually win a title through him? Time will tell, but he’ll have to break patterns weâve seen before.
All of this highlights how difficult it is to find a true franchise player, and when you have one in his prime, you probably shouldnât let him go.
