The Washington Post - 29.08.2019

(Joyce) #1

D2 EZ SU THE WASHINGTON POST.THURSDAY, AUGUST 29 , 2019


GOLF
5:30 a.m. European Tour : European Masters, first round » Golf Channel
5:30 p.m. LPGA Tour: Portland Classic, first round » Golf Channel
SOCCER
6:15 p.m. Copa Libertadores, second leg: River Plate at Cerro Porteno » beIN Sports
7 p.m. Women’s international friendly: United States vs. Portugal » Fox Sports 1
7 p.m. Mexican Liga MX: UNAM at Monterrey » Fox Sports 2
8:30 p.m. Copa Sudamericana, second leg: Corinthians at Fluminense » beIN Sports
COLLEGE SOCCER
2:30 p.m. Men’s: Quinnipiac at Boston College » ACC Network
5:30 p.m. Women’s: Boston University at Boston College » ACC Network
7 p.m. Women’s: Florida Atlantic at Miami » ACC Network
TRACK AND FIELD
2 p.m. IAAF Diamond League: Weltklasse » NBC Sports Network
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
8 p.m. Katy (Tex.) at North Shore (Tex.) » ESPNU
TENNIS
Noon U.S. Open, second round » ESPN
6 p.m. U.S. Open, second round » ESPN2

TELEVISION AND RADIO
MLB
2 p.m. Tampa Bay at Houston » MLB Network
7 p.m. Chicago Cubs at New York Mets » MLB Network
10 p.m. Los Angeles Dodgers at Arizona » MLB Network (joined in progress)
NFL PRESEASON
7 p.m. Pittsburgh at Carolina » NFL Network
7:30 p.m. Baltimore at Washington » NBC Sports Washington, WRC (Ch. 4),
WBFF (Ch. 45), WJLA (Ch. 7), WBAL (Ch. 11), WTEM (980 AM), WMAL (105.9 AM),
WJFK (1580 AM Spanish broadcast), WWDC (104.7 FM), WIYY (97.9 FM)
10 p.m. Preseason: Los Angeles Chargers at San Francisco » NFL Network
WNBA
7 p.m. Phoenix at Atlanta » NBA TV
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
7 p.m. UCLA at Cincinnati » ESPN
7 p.m. Jacksonville at Richmond » MASN
7:30 p.m. Florida A&M at UCF » CBS Sports Network
8 p.m. Georgia Tech at Clemson » ACC Network
8:30 p.m. Texas State at Texas A&M » SEC Network
9 p.m. South Dakota State at Minnesota » Fox Sports 1
10 p.m. Kent State at Arizona State » Pac-12 Network
10:15 p.m. Utah at BYU » ESPN

BY CANDACE BUCKNER


We’re still a month out from NBA
training camps, but your questions
already are adding up about these new-
look Washington Wizards.
Is S cott Brooks the right coach for the
team’s reset? And what does success
look like for the 2019-20 season?
Questions have been edited for length
and clarity.
Q. What sense do you get around the
team/front office of what would
constitute a “successful” 2019-2020
season? Playoffs? No injuries? — Dan
Ionana via Twitter
A. Back in July, around the opening
days of free agency when the Wizards’
roster was coming into shape and
anyone could see there were issues with
the depth chart (i.e. so many rookies and
young or fringe players surrounding
Bradley Beal), “success” didn’t look so
clear. But when I talked to those within
the organization, I got a sense that they
were optimistic about this group and
that the 2019-20 team would “surprise”
a lot of people. (I heard that word a lot.)
What would it take for the Wizards to
surprise the NBA? Win 40 or more
games? Stay within the top eight of the
Eastern Conference? Actually make the
playoffs? That remains to be seen, but I
think if the Wizards are realistic, a
“successful” season would mean several
things:


  1. Rookie Rui Hachimura adapts to
    the NBA and develops into a solid
    starter.
    Hachimura is their highest pick in
    years and a major part of their future, so
    success means making him better by
    April and preparing him for a larger role
    in Year 2. If Hachimura can show
    progress in getting a three-point shot
    while still adding to his bag of tricks
    (rebounding, running the floor, etc.),
    then I believe that would be one of the
    indications that the 2019-20 season
    went as planned.
    As far as expectations, I think it’s
    reasonable to anticipate a No. 9 pick
    starting and being on the floor in big


moments. But Hachimura will need the
trust from his coach for that to happen.


  1. Other young players take a step in
    maturation on the court.
    Thomas Bryant is officially a starter
    in this league now, and I would like to
    see his energy stay on 10 for the entire
    season. Troy Brown Jr. is more
    confident, and I would like see him
    continue to grow into his all-around
    game. And Moritz Wagner, who was left
    off the German national team and
    traded by the Los Angeles Lakers after
    his rookie season, should be motivated
    to make a big leap in his second year. I
    want to see whether this kid can be
    Bryant-like in playing out of his mind
    after not having the rookie year of his
    dreams.

  2. Isaiah Thomas becomes a
    complementary backcourt mate, taking
    some nightly pressure off Beal’s
    shoulders, and some of the other
    veteran minimum players outplay their
    contracts.
    Q. If you were coach, who would be
    your starting five right now? — Aaron
    via Twitter
    A. My prediction for the Wizards’
    starting lineup Oct. 23 in Dallas:
    Thomas, Beal, Davis Bertans,
    Hachimura and Bryant.
    I would start CJ Miles at the three
    because I would want him to stretch the
    floor, but he will be recovering from
    offseason surgery to repair a stress
    fracture in his left foot. In the Wizards’
    statement, they said “an update” would
    be provided about six weeks following
    the procedure — which would be
    roughly Sept. 5. Training camp is later
    that month, then preseason games
    quickly follow. I just can’t say with
    certainty that he will be ready. This
    means I’m essentially playing Bertans


out of position, but I need another
shooter on the floor, so I’m taking his
career 40.4 percentage from three and
not thinking twice about it.
I’m starting Thomas at point, though
he probably will be on a minutes
restriction. And for reasons stated
above, I’m throwing H achimura into the
fire and watching carefully with an
extinguisher close by.
Q. Do you believe the Wizards view
Scott Brooks as the correct coach to
head this new era/culture that the
Wizards are trying to create? — Dialante
via Twitter
A. I do think the Wizards view him as
the coach for right now. Meaning, he’s
going to lead the team into this
rebuilding phase but it is too early to tell
whether he will see through the
complete reset. Including this season,
Brooks has two years and $14 million
guaranteed remaining on his contract.
When the team miraculously stayed
healthy in his first season, you saw what
happened. Look beyond the trees (i.e.
poor start to 2016-17 season, bouts of
inconsistent play that have lingered for
three seasons, not trusting the bench)
and appreciate the forest (i.e. 49 wins,
one game away from the Eastern
Conference finals, John Wall’s best
season of his career). But over the past
few years, injuries have played a major
factor in the team crawling into the
playoffs in 2018 and missing them by a
long shot in 2019. Although the injuries
are a reality, Brooks has deserved some
criticism.
Now, don’t get it wrong: The NBA is a
results-oriented business, and if a coach
isn’t living up to expectations, he will be
fired. But — and I could be wrong — I
think this year the pressure is off Brooks.
This year, the job is clearly defined.
Establish accountability. Create a
culture in which every night the team
plays hard and with effort and energy.
Develop the kids. If he does these things,
I think he will be able to finish out of the
rest of the contract, and who knows
where the Wizards will go from there.
[email protected]

QUOTABLE


“It was not the correct


choice of words, and my


point and intention was


to address what I see as


double standards rather


than corruption.”
NICK KYRGIOS,
tennis player, attempting to clarify his
comments about the ATP.

WIZARDS

How will this team define success?


RUNNING

BY CINDY BOREN


Round and round he went on
the oval track in Milwaukee, and
when the race was over, ultrarun-
ner Zach Bitter owned the 100-
mile world record and had bet-
tered his own 12-hour world rec-
ord.
Bitter accomplished the feat Sat-
urday during the Six Days in the
Dome event, setting the world rec-
ord of 11:19:13, lowering Oleg
Kharitonov’s 2002 record by al-
most nine minutes and Bitter’s
own American mark of 11:40:55.
Bitter slowed down but continued
for another 40 minutes to improve
his 12-hour distance world record
to 104.8 miles.
Overall, he covered 363 trips
around the track over the
100 miles, 378 total by his wife’s
count. The 33-year-old used a
6:47 pace to top Kharitonov’s
11:28:03 mark and had some
doubts around the halfway mark
but found a way to run the second
half of his 100-mile quest faster
than the first half. The Dome e vent
consists of 24-hour, 48-hour and
six-day races, and Bitter was en-
tered in t he 24-hour event.
“I’m typically targeting the
shortest event of the day,” he told
The Washington Post in a tele-
phone interview. “I joke around
when I finish, ‘Well, wait for these
guys to finish. I’m only doing one-
twelfth what they are.’ I’m the
sprinter o f the ultra world.”
There’s a different kind of men-
tal component to a race of that
distance.
“When you have a race that’s
that long, if you’re counting each
lap or counting your split on each
lap, you’re expending a little bit of
mental energy doing that. You
have to be careful about burning
yourself out early on b y getting too
focused on specifics,” he said. “So
with that said, when you’re target-
ing a very specific time, you need
to be within range. What I do
before an event like this is I look a t
the track lap distance and calcu-
late my range....
“Once I have that, I’ll start the
race and check pretty frequently
for the first maybe eight to 10 laps
to kind o f calibrate the i ntensity t o
the splits. Once I have that cali-
brated, then I try to kind of zone
out a nd stop looking as frequently.
I’ll still spot check every once in a
while just to make sure I’m not
drifting out.”
Bitter said he hopes his accom-
plishment puts “a spotlight on
these events,” e ven i f it means that
he is n o longer the record h older.
“One of my goals is to get other
people interested s o we can h ave a
situation where we can really see
how fast a human can run
100 m iles, and b y the way, I ’m v ery
content with being a stepping-
stone along the way to that,” he
said. “I think it would be cool
when I run my l ast ultramarathon
to look back and say I was part of
the catalyst that drew people
toward the fast side of things in
the m odern e ra.”
[email protected]

American


shatters


record for


100 miles


BY SCOTT ALLEN


D.C. United captain Wayne
Rooney responded Wednesday to
a story that recently appeared in
a British tabloid that featured
photos of the English striker
enjoying the Vancouver nightlife
and talking to a woman outside a
hotel elevator after a match this
month.
In a statement posted on Twit-
ter, Rooney called the story and
photos, which appeared in the
Sun and reportedly embarrassed
his wife, Coleen, “a smear”
against him.
“The Sun this week ran a
front-page story making it look
like I took a girl back to my team
hotel,” Rooney said in the state-
ment. “They know that it’s not
true and that I did not. They are
using mine and my family’s
name to sell papers. Nothing
happened between me and any
girl on that night in Vancouver. I
did not enter the lift alone with
the girl pictured in the hotel
foyer.”
In breaking his silence about
the story, Rooney, who declined
interviews Tuesday through a
team spokesman, said the wom-
an pictured with him was “sim-
ply one of many who innocently
asked for autographs and pic-
tures” after United’s 1-0 loss to
Vancouver on Aug. 17.
“The photographs published
by The Sun were taken by a
freelance photographer who fol-
lowed me and my team mates to
take long range shots, without
our knowledge or permission,”
Rooney wrote. “The pictures sold
to the newspaper were selected
and edited to create a sensational
and completely untrue story
about me. This whole story was a
smear against me. It is damaging
to my f amily and not something I
am prepared to put up with.”
During the 13 years he played
for Manchester United, Rooney
was a frequent target of scrutiny
by the British tabloids.
Being able to go places in
Washington with Coleen and
their four sons without worrying
about paparazzi was one of the
things Rooney has said he has
enjoyed since signing with D.C.
United last year.
[email protected]


D.C. SPORTS BOG


Rooney


lashes out


at coverage


of nightlife


KAZUHIRO NOGI/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
Rui Hachimura, the No. 9 pick in the 201 9 NBA draft, is a notable addition to Washington’s roster and could start.

Improvement by youth
will be measuring stick
for the 2019-20 roster

washingtonpost.com/sports


PRO BASKETBALL


NBA investigates claim


Cousins made threat


The Los Angeles Lakers and
the NBA said they are
investigating a claim that center
DeMarcus Cousins threatened a
former girlfriend.
TMZ released an audio
recording Tuesday in which it
said Cousins threatened to shoot
Christy West, the mother of
their 7-year-old child.
The Lakers issued a statement
saying they “take this claim
seriously.” The team and the NBA
both said they’re gathering
information and looking into the
allegations. Cousins got married
to another woman last weekend
in Atlanta.
Cousins signed with the
Lakers last month as a free agent,
but the veteran center then tore a
knee ligament during a workout
this month. He could miss the
entire season.


COLLEGES
Three former Michigan
football players who transferred
after last season were granted
waivers by the NCAA to begin
competing immediately for their
new schools rather than having


to sit out a season. All are eligible
to begin playing when their
teams open the season this week.
Georgia Te ch defensive back
Myles Sims can play in the
Yellow Jackets’ opener at No. 1
Clemson on Thursday night. The
Atlanta native redshirted as a
true freshman last season.
Wide receiver Oliver Martin
was cleared to play for No. 20
Iowa. The Iowa native caught
11 passes in 2018.
Defensive lineman Aubrey
Solomon, a former five-star
recruit who played two years at
Michigan, is expected to provide
a giant boost for Te nnessee....
The NCAA denied defensive
lineman Antonneous Clayton’s
waiver request for immediate
eligibility at Georgia Te ch. He
transferred from Florida....
Isaiah Stokes, a 6-foot-8, 270-
pound forward, transferred to
Memphis to play basketball for
his old AAU coach, Penny
Hardaway, after spending the
past two seasons at Florida....
Georgetown’s seventh-ranked
women’s soccer team tied No. 8
Duke, 0-0, in Raleigh, N.C. Anna
Leat had two saves for the Hoyas.
Both teams are 1-1-1.

SOCCER
A year ahead of the start of

World Cup qualifying, U.S. Coach
Gregg Berhalter is bringing in
three young players for
exhibitions next month against
Mexico and Uruguay, adding
defenders Sergiño Dest, 18, and
Miles Robinson, 22, to his player
pool along with midfielder
Paxton Pomykal, 19.
All three have gained regular
club playing time. Dest and
Pomykal were on the U.S. team
that reached the quarterfinals
of this year’s Under-20 World
Cup. The United States plays
Mexico on Sept. 6 in East

Rutherford, N.J., and Uruguay
four days later in St. Louis.
Christian Pulisic, the 20-year-
old star in his first season with
Chelsea, was listed as a forward
rather than a midfielder on the
26-man roster....
Edson Álvarez scored the
decisive goal to give the Dutch
team a place in the Champions
League group stage with a 2-0
win over APOEL in Amsterdam.
Ajax, a semifinalist last year,
advanced on aggregate, 2-0.
Club Brugge and Slavia Prague
also advanced with home wins.

Brugge beat LASK Linz, 2-1, for
a 3-1 aggregate win, and Slavia’s
second 1-0 win over CFR Club
made it 2-0 on aggregate....
Victor Osimhen made it four
goals in three French league
matches since joining Lille,
scoring twice in a 3-0 home win
against Saint-Etienne....
Former Chelsea and
To ttenham coach André Villas
Boas secured his first win in
charge of Marseille, which beat
host Nice, 2-1. The match was
halted by referee Clément
Turpin midway through the first
half after Nice fans unfurled two

banners with homophobic
messages....
The host Montreal Impact
recorded its first win under new
coach Wilmer Cabrera, beating
the Vancouver Whitecaps, 2-1, in
MLS.

HOCKEY
Buffalo Sabres defenseman
Matt Hunwick is expected to
miss this season because of a
neck condition that bothered the
12-year veteran for much of last
season. Hunwick was limited to
14 games last season.
— From news services

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