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Sounds like a losing franchise trying to turn things around.
Try the two-time and defending AFC West champion Kansas City Chiefs.
The slew of offseason moves began even before free agency, when the Chiefs agreed to trades that sent quarterback Alex Smith to the Redskins and cornerback Marcus Peters to the Rams. But the pace of the dealing has hardly slowed down as the Chiefs remake an aging and expensive roster that was good enough to reach the playoffs last season but not good enough to beat Tennessee in the wild-card round.
That’s why they signed wide receiver Sammy Watkins, cornerback David Amerson and middle linebacker Anthony Hitchens, and landed cornerback Kendall Fuller in the trade with Washington.
”We’re not trying to win a Super Bowl four years from now. We’re going out there and we’re trying to win a Super Bowl next year,” Chiefs general manager Brett Veach said. ”Whether that happens, I don’t know, but I know that we’re going to do everything we can to put our team in position to do so.”
Many teams coming off back-to-back division titles would try to hold on a little longer. And the result would be a slow regression that would ultimately force the team to begin a complete rebuilding job anyway.
Veach, who took over for John Dorsey last summer, took a refreshingly different tack. He went after the trade market, was decisive in his convictions and landed his biggest priorities, even if he may have had to pay a premium to get Watkins and Hitchens in the door.
It was a sign the candid, confident Veach is going to be a far different GM than his predecessors in Kansas City.
”If we have shortcomings,” Veach said, ”we’ll continue to work on those things. Our mindset is at every period to get our team in a position to win a Super Bowl. We have a lot of talent here. It’s a lot of young talent, which is exciting for the fans Pat McAfee Jersey , but we realize there may be some growing pains. But we have some guys that can straight up play football, and that’s exciting.”
There is no doubt an abundance of talent, especially on offense.
Patrick Mahomes II is poised to take over for Smith under center, and he showed flashes of his big arm and gamesmanship in a Week 17 victory over Denver. To ease the transition, the Chiefs added Watkins to what is arguably the best set of skill-position players in the division, headlined by NFL rushing king Kareem Hunt, Pro Bowl tight end Travis Kelce and speedy wide receiver Tyreek Hill.
They also retained one of their own when they brought back bruising fullback Anthony Sherman.
”As a team, we’ve won a lot of games in the last few years,” Mahomes said, ”and we’re bringing a lot of those guys back. And with the additions that we have added, I feel like we can have a very, very good offense. It’s all going to start with how we prepare, especially at my position.”
Yes, the Chiefs expected to have a very good offense, just as they did last season. But one of the big challenges this offseason has been to fix a defense that ranked among the worst in the league.
Hitchens was a good first step, and he’ll step in to the void created by the release of the aging Derrick Johnson Randall Cobb Jersey , the franchise’s career tackles leader. Amerson and Fuller will help to cover the trade of Peters, and the draft picks netted this offseason will almost certainly be used on defense.
Still, the question remains: Is that enough to make an appreciable improvement?
”We’ve got a great nucleus coming back. We’ve added some players that are top-notch,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said last week. ”We’re fired up about this whole thing. I’m not great at standing up and going, `Hey, here we go!’ But I’m ready to roll as we’re sitting here in March.”
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The NBA playoffs that start this weekend already have an extremely tough act to follow.
The regular season ended with a flourish.
Wednesday’s final night of the regular season was well beyond dramatic – an overtime game between Minnesota and Denver to decide the last berth, another overtime game between Miami and Toronto to determine some East fates, a 46-point first quarter by Philadelphia , an absurd 20-rebound, 19-assist night from Russell Westbrook.
And now, the best time of the NBA year is finally here.
The playoffs are back, with Golden State and Cleveland – who’ve met in the last three NBA Finals – not exactly looking like the overwhelming favorites the league has come to expect. A fourth straight Warriors-Cavs matchup is no guarantee. A fourth straight trip by either of those teams alone is far from certain, either.
It all starts Saturday, the 16-team tournament that will be a two-month grind following the six-month grind of the regular season.
”I feel pretty ready,” Toronto guard Kyle Lowry said. ”We’re ready to go.”
So are 15 other teams.
Start with the East pairings: Lowry and the top-seeded Raptors play No. 8 Washington, No. 2 Boston faces No. 7 Milwaukee http://www.indianapoliscoltsteamonline.com/joe-haeg-jersey , No. 3 Philadelphia gets No. 6 Miami and No. 4 Cleveland – with LeBron James bidding for an eighth consecutive appearance in The Finals – opening against No. 5 Indiana, a surprise team at the start of the season and one that isn’t a surprise anymore.
”We’re one of 16 teams that have a chance to win a championship,” James said. ”That’s all you can ask for.”
Philadelphia, after years of the rebuilding saga known as ”The Process,” has a chance as well. The 76ers are going into the playoffs on a 16-game winning streak.
”Take a deep breath, then reload,” 76ers coach Brett Brown said, talking about what he wants his team to do before getting ready for Game 1.
Out West, it’s No. 1 Houston meeting No. 8 Minnesota – which earned its berth by topping Denver in the NBA’s first win-and-get-in, lose-and-go-home regular-season finale in 21 years. No. 2 Golden State opens its quest for a third championship in four seasons against No. 7 San Antonio, No. 3 Portland drew No. 6 New Orleans and No. 4 Oklahoma City opens against No. 5 Utah.
”The playoffs are about moments, and you just want a chance to have those moments,” Miami guard Dwyane Wade said.
For the Timberwolves, Wednesday was a moment in itself. They needed overtime to beat the Nuggets and get into the postseason. It’s Minnesota’s first berth since 2004, and ended what was the NBA’s longest playoff drought (which now is bequeathed to the Sacramento Kings, who last played a playoff game in 2006).
”They just made the plays at the end http://www.dallascowboysteamonline.com/kavon-frazier-jersey ,” Denver’s Will Barton said of the Timberwolves. ”Give them credit.”
There are some rematches from the 2017 playoffs already waiting. Cleveland swept Indiana in the first round last year, and Boston needed seven games to oust Washington in a thrilling East semifinal series.
But the most intriguing should be the Golden State-San Antonio matchup – because once again, just like a year ago, the Spurs will almost certainly be without Leonard.
Those two teams played in the West finals last season, and the Spurs were up by 23 points when Leonard left in the third quarter after getting injured on a play where he tried a jumper and Warriors center Zaza Pachulia closed out aggressively. Leonard got hurt when he stepped on Pachulia on the landing; he and the Spurs haven’t been the same since.
Leonard never returned to that series, and played in only nine games for the Spurs this season.
”There is no pressure on us,” Spurs star LaMarcus Aldridge said.
There is on Golden State.
The Warriors are trying for a third title in four seasons, and will play this first round more than likely without Curry while he continues recovering from a knee injury. Golden State went 7-10 in its final 17 games, and clearly sputtered across the finish line.
But the records all reset now, and the Warriors have been waiting to get the postseason started.
”It’ll be our first meaningful game in about a month,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. ”Looking forward to that.”
With good reason. There’s a trophy to go chase now.
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The Wall