Sports briefs
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Deshaun Watson throwing full speed after shoulder surgery
BEREA, Ohio | Deshaun Watson is pleased with the velocity on his passes. At least there’s one aspect of his recovery from shoulder surgery with some speed.
The Browns quarterback said Tuesday that he’s following a conservative rehab plan set up by his doctor and the team’s training staff as he recovers from major surgery in November that ended his second season in Cleveland after just six games.
Watson, who suffered a fracture to the glenoid bone in his throwing shoulder, said his rehab has gone according to schedule and that there haven’t been any setbacks.
He’s been throwing pain free and without any issues.
“Everything is fluid motion, no hinging,” Watson said, raising his arm to demonstrate. “When I’m throwing, everything is fluid and motion is really good. The velocity and the strength is really good.”
But while giving a positive medical report, the 28-year-old Watson didn’t have a timetable for when he’ll be 100% and he expressed some frustration at not being able to do more.
“It can be sooner than later, it can be later than sooner,” he said.
Watson said he isn’t sure if he’ll take part in practices this spring and pushed any decisions about him playing in preseason games this summer off on Browns general manager Andrew Berry and coach Kevin Stefanski.
Watson reported to the team’s training facility on Monday for the start of the voluntary offseason program. Per NFL rules, the team is limited to individual workouts and classroom sessions.
He’s been abiding by the advice he’s gotten from Dr. Neal ElAttrache, the renowned sports orthopedist who did his surgery and has an extensive background in working with baseball players with injuries similar to Watson’s.
ElAttrache has urged Watson to take it slow, which isn’t always easy for the QB.
“Naturally for myself, I try to do a little bit more,” he said. “But (Browns head trainer) Joe (Sheehan) and those guys are keeping me tamed and making sure that I’m just doing exactly what the program says. If it’s eight reps, then do eight reps. Don’t try to do too much.”
Watson said a decision on whether he participates in OTAs next month hasn’t been made.
“We got to see how these next couple of weeks go,” Watson said. “Dr. ElAttrache wants to be a little bit more conservative just because it was a joint. So he wants to really make sure that we’re not doing too much and other experts that was a part of it said the same thing.
“You want to be a little bit more conservative this summer and get ready for training camp, that’s when there’s going to be a time where we can pick that up.”
Watson said ElAttrache was amazed he played as long as he did with the painful injury.
Despite hearing “clicking sounds” in his shoulder, Watson played the second half against Baltimore on Nov. 12 — he completed all 14 passes after halftime in the comeback win — before an MRI following the game revealed the fracture.
Watson said it was possible he broke the bone as early as Sept. 24, when he took a big hit against Tennessee in Week 3. He was in and out of the lineup for several weeks following that game with shoulder issues.
When he finally had surgery, Watson said ElAttrache repaired the fracture and a partial tear of the labrum, which helps stabilize the shoulder.
“So when the glenoid came off the bone, the labrum was the one that was hanging on the bone,” Watson said. “He had to pretty much repair that and put that together. He made sure the labrum was good.”
The Browns signed Watson to a fully guaranteed $230 million contract in 2022 after trading three first-round draft picks and other selections to the Houston Texans for the three-time Pro Bowler.
Watson served an 11-game league suspension in 2022 following sexual abuse and harassment allegations made against him by two dozen massage therapists in Texas.
There has been some frustration, but Watson said he’s grown from his experience.
“I’ve learned how to be patient the last three years,” he said. “It’s honestly just staying focused and on track of what they’re allowing me to do and just taking it one step at a time. And if I can do that and focus on myself to be the better person and be the better teammate and player that I can be through this process, then I think that’s the best thing.”
USA Basketball fills the 12 available slots for the Paris Olympics roster
LeBron James plans to go back to the Olympics. Stephen Curry is planning on going for the first time. Kevin Durant will go there with his eye on history.
And they’re just part of a star-studded roster the Americans have assembled for the Paris Games.
USA Basketball has gotten confirmations from 12 players — James, Curry, Durant, Bam Adebayo, Devin Booker, Joel Embiid, Jayson Tatum, Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday, Tyrese Haliburton, Anthony Edwards and Kawhi Leonard — that they will accept invitations to be on the Olympic roster, three people with knowledge of the decisions said. That group includes seven previous gold medalists.
The people spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because it was believed USA Basketball was planning to release the names on Wednesday. Leonard — a finalist for each of the last two Olympic teams — was the last piece of the roster puzzle to be finalized, one of the people said.
The amount of talent on the U.S. roster is staggering. Of the 12 commits, seven finished the season ranked among the NBA’s top 15 scorers per game. James is the league’s all-time scoring leader, Curry the all-time leader in 3-pointers, Haliburton won the assist-per-game title this season and 10 were All-Stars this season as well.
Players around the NBA have been told of the decisions USA Basketball made over the past several days, one of the people said. USA Basketball managing director Grant Hill has led the task of assembling the roster for the past several months, and the plan all along was to put together the team well in advance of training camp starting at Las Vegas in early July. Tryouts were never part of the plan for this team.
Durant has said since last year that he plans to play, which means he will pursue becoming the first men’s player in Olympic history with four basketball gold medals. He and Carmelo Anthony are the only men’s players with three Olympic golds; there are six women, all American, with at least four Olympic basketball golds. Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi each have five, while Teresa Edwards, Tamika Catchings, Sylvia Fowles and Lisa Leslie each won four.
James will seek a fourth medal, after winning bronze in 2004 and golds in 2008 and 2012. The other past gold medalists on the roster are Davis (2012), Adebayo (2020), Booker (2020), Tatum (2020) and Holiday (2020). The 2020 gold medals were won in 2021, since the COVID-19 pandemic forced a one-year delay of the Tokyo Games.
Curry will play in the Olympics for the first time, as will Embiid — who chose to play for the U.S. last year after becoming an American citizen. The Cameroon-born center also could have chosen to represent France at the Paris Games.
The other first-time Olympians on the current roster are Haliburton and Edwards, both of whom played for the U.S. team that finished fourth at the World Cup in Manila last year.
Many of the commitments are not surprises: Durant and Curry said in October that they wanted to play this summer, Adebayo said then that he had already committed to the team, and it’s been assumed for some time that if players like James want to play, then all they have to do is say so.
The U.S. men have competed in basketball at the Olympics 19 times, winning 19 medals — 16 gold, one silver and two bronze.
The Paris team will be coached by Steve Kerr, assisted by Erik Spoelstra, Tyronn Lue and Mark Few. It’s still possible that the roster changes before the summer, if injuries or deep runs in the NBA playoffs force players to change their minds about committing to the national team.
Michigan gets three years of probation for football recruiting violations
Michigan was given three years of probation, fined and hit with recruiting limits by the NCAA on Tuesday after football coaches and staff had impermissible contact with recruits and players under then-coach Jim Harbaugh while access was restricted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The NCAA said it had reached a negotiated resolution with the school that has been approved by the committee on infractions involving five former and current coaches and staffers, but it did not include allegations that Harbaugh failed to cooperate with investigators. That is now a separate case.
“We are pleased to reach a resolution on this matter so that our student-athletes and our football program can move forward. We have no additional information and cannot comment further on other aspects of the NCAA’s inquiries,” Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel said in statement.
Harbaugh’s attorney, Tom Mars, said the coach was not invited to participate in the settlement process or aware that an agreement had been reached between the school on the NCAA. Harbaugh is now coach of the Los Angeles Chargers.
“I’m not saying he would have participated. That would have depended on what terms the NCAA wanted,” Mars told AP. “Seems odd they didn’t even give Jim the opportunity to participate or decline. What’s that say about the NCAA’s intentions?”
The recruiting case is also separate from the NCAA’s investigation into impermissible in-person scouting and sign stealing that roiled Michigan’s national championship season in 2023, and resulted in a three-game suspension of Harbaugh by the Big Ten.
The multiple cases could open up Michigan to being deemed a repeat violator by the NCAA, which could trigger harsher sanctions. The fine was not announced, though NCAA guidelines call for a fine of $5,000 for mitigated Level I violations.
After leading Michigan to its first national championship since 1997, Harbaugh left his alma mater earlier this year to become coach of the Chargers. The NCAA did not name him in Tuesday’s announcement.
“The negotiated resolution also involved the school’s agreement that the underlying violations demonstrated a head coach responsibility violation and the former football head coach failed to meet his responsibility to cooperate with the investigation,” the NCAA said. “The school also agreed that it failed to deter and detect the impermissible recruiting contacts and did not ensure that the football program adhered to rules for noncoaching staff members.”
The committee said a final decision, including potential violations and penalties for the former coach, was pending.
Besides the three-game suspension for Harbaugh, Michigan also imposed one-game suspensions for then-offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore and assistant Grant Newsome related to the impermissible contact case. Moore, who went 4-0 filling for Harbaugh during his two suspensions, was promoted to head coach after Harbaugh left for the NFL.
Blake Griffin retires after high-flying NBA career
Blake Griffin announced his retirement Tuesday after a 14-year career that included six All-Star selections, Rookie of the Year honors and a dunk contest victory.
Griffin said in a social media post that he’s “thankful for every single moment” of his career. He was the No. 1 overall pick by the Los Angeles Clippers out of Oklahoma in 2009. He missed his first season with a knee injury, but rebounded to earn the Rookie of the Year award in 2011, when he also won the All-Star Game dunk contest.
Alongside Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan, Griffin’s high-flying plays rejuvenated the Clippers franchise and earned it the nickname “Lob City.” He was traded to the Detroit Pistons during the 2018 season as his ability to soar dwindled and injuries piled up.
“Blake was a big part of the turnaround here,” said Tyronn Lue, the current Clippers coach who was an assistant on the staff early in Griffin’s LA career. “Blake was one of the most dynamic players we’ve seen in this league for a long time as far as athletic-wise. One thing he doesn’t get credit for is his passing ability. He had a great career.”
Griffin was able to reinvent his game in Detroit with a reliable 3-point shot and was selected for his sixth All-Star Game in the 2018-19 season. He averaged 24.5 points and 7.5 rebounds that season.
Griffin, 35, also had stints in Brooklyn and Boston. He did not play in the 2023-24 season.
He averaged 19.0 points and 8.0 rebounds in his career. He finished third in MVP voting behind Kevin Durant and LeBron James in the 2013-14 season.
“I’m thankful for every single moment — not just the good ones: the wins, the awards, the dunks, and the memorable times spent with family, friends, fans, teammates and coaches,” Griffin said in his Instagram post, thanking his family and agent, Sam Goldfeder. “I am equally thankful for the not-so-good moments: the losses, the injuries, the wayyyy too many surgeries, the lessons, the heartbreaks, and it wouldn’t be sports retirement letter without acknowledging the ‘haters.’
“All of these experiences made my 14 years in the league truly unforgettable, and I can’t help but just feel thankful.”
—From AP reports
