Trump: ‘I’m not looking to’ declare national emergency over border fight

Over the weekend, White House aides and advisers said they were still unsure how the president planned to end the government shutdown.

President Donald Trump on Monday appeared to rule out — at least for now — declaring a national emergency to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, setting aside one of the White House’s leading options for ending the 24-day partial government shutdown.

“Now I have the absolute legal right to call it, but I’m not looking to do that,” Trump told reporters as he departed the White House.

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Trump had previously indicated he was in no rush to declare a national emergency and go around Congress to secure funds for the border wall, which he has long promised. But over the weekend, White House aides and advisers said they were still unsure how he planned to end the government shutdown.

The president’s Monday comments are the latest indication that there is no end in sight to the shutdown, which is now the longest in U.S. history. Both sides have dug in, with Trump demanding more than $5 billion for the wall and Democrats insisting that a wall is expensive, unnecessary and “immoral.” As of Monday morning, there were no signs of a pending compromise, even after many federal workers missed their first paycheck on Friday.

The national emergency strategy has come under criticism from some conservatives, including key members of the House Freedom Caucus, who have warned the president that the move could set a dangerous precedent. Some Republicans have cautioned that future Democratic presidents could use it to force through progressive policies against the will of Congress.

Trump and his top aides have been seriously weighing the prospect of declaring a national emergency for days, analyzing several possible funding sources for the wall, including disaster relief money.

Though the move would inevitably face legal challenges, some advisers close to the president made the case that the declaration would send a signal to his base that he’s serious about building the wall, while giving him cover to reopen the government without looking like he caved to Democrats.

Yet, despite recent polling showing that the majority of the public blames Trump and Republicans for the shutdown, some of the president’s advisers believe there is a political advantage to the current stalemate, according to two people familiar with the matter, who argued that the push for the wall is energizing the president’s base. The White House also sees an opportunity to attack Democrats for leaving Washington during the shutdown. A delegation of lawmakers went to see the musical “Hamilton” in Puerto Rico over the weekend.

“I’ve been here all weekend. A lot of the Democrats were in Puerto Rico celebrating something. I don’t know, maybe they’re celebrating the shutdown,” Trump told reporters.

Trump also said on Monday that he had rejected an effort by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a staunch ally of the White House, to re-open the government while lawmakers try to reach an immigration compromise. “I did reject it,” Trump said.

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Here’s Why Travis Scott Ended Up On The Super Bowl Halftime Show With Maroon 5

Travis Scott‘s upcoming Super Bowl halftime show performance — which he’s sharing with Maroon 5 and Big Boi — makes sense. He’s one of the biggest artists on the planet with one of the biggest albums (and songs) of the moment, and the Super Bowl is the Super Bowl.

But the Super Bowl is also the centerpiece of the NFL, an organization with no shortage of controversy, particularly surrounding racial matters. That’s why it also makes sense that Scott had some conditions regarding his involvement in the halftime show — namely that the NFL had to join in his own charitable donation to an organization advocating social justice.

“I back anyone who takes a stand for what they believe in,” Scott said in a statement (via Pitchfork). “I know being an artist that it’s in my power to inspire. So before confirming the Super Bowl Halftime performance, I made sure to partner with the NFL on this important donation. I am proud to support Dream Corps and the work they do that will hopefully inspire and promote change.”

The Dream Corps, in its own words, “works to close prison doors and open doors of opportunity.” Scott is making a $500,000 donation to the organization, which was founded by Van Jones, partnering with the NFL to do it.

Cardi B reportedly turned down the halftime show gig in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, and a report from Variety from late 2018 said that Jay-Z had attempted to talk Scott out of taking the gig for the same reason.

Super Bowl LIII kicks off Sunday, February 3. I certainly hope Scott brings one of his Astroworld stage carnival loops and that Adam Levine rides it while singing “Girls Like You.”

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Netflix’s ‘Sex Education’ nails a crucial aspect of sex positivity

While every adolescent story has its brushes and run-ins with sex, Sex Education does a remarkable job of tackling the inelegant topic of sexual growth with equal nuance and distinction for every character. It is not, as the title suggests, a show about one subject, but a masterfully interwoven narrative that mirrors the messiness of human sexuality.

As Mashable’s Jess Joho put it in our review of the show, “everyone, even the sex therapist, is trapped by their own narrow definition of what their own sexuality should or shouldn’t be.”

I was 23 when I first heard the word demisexual – a person who does not experience sexual attraction unless they form a strong emotional connection with someone. It is a curious sensation, to hear a new word and realize that not only do you know it, but you’ve connected with it deeply for years. It took me too long to find that word and the validity of its definition because there were no examples of it in mainstream media.

Sex Education is the first instance I can recall of a protagonist not constantly preoccupied by the need for validation through sex and love, but whose journey is even more fundamental than that. Otis (Asa Butterfield) knows who he is – his life’s status quo includes finding different men emerging from his mum’s bedroom every morning and dressing in drag every year for best friend Eric’s (Ncuti Gatwa) birthday.

Otis’s difficulty with sex and relationships operates completely independent of his other interpersonal relationships or his work and school life. He is the remarkable case of a sexually inactive fictional character who isn’t immediately dismissed as asexual, confused, or ailing in some way. He is, like everyone else on the show, on his own journey – and the show, to its immense credit, lets him be.

We are in an age of sex-positive entertainment, and it’s brilliant. Depending on what you watch, there’s always been some degree of it, but a sea change can ostensibly be traced back to Lena Dunham’s Girls, which premiered in 2012. Girls was known, among other things, for explicit and often messy sex among its young millennial characters, who relate to physical intimacy in starkly different ways from their Sex and the City or Friends ancestors.

But an easy failure of sex-positive media is the assumption that it applies to everyone. The teens in Universal’s Blockers were on a quest to do something that everyone else was ostensibly doing. Even Sex Education opens with this thesis: “Everybody’s either thinking about shagging, about to shag, or actually shagging.”

That does apply to a lot of people, but this mentality in movies, television, and society at large can be extremely alienating to young people who don’t into any of those categories at what mainstream media would tell me was an acceptable time to feel this way. For Otis, and for other characters, their school and culture’s casual attitude toward sex creates an additional layer of shame, that they are somehow not part of this movement and can’t figure out how to be.

We’ve seen fictional characters want to have sex just to “get it over with.” In Lady Bird, Saoirse Ronan’s character is told immediately after her first sexual experience that she’s “going to have so much un-special sex” in her life. Otis (and multiple peers) resign themselves to this credo, to getting the un-special sex out of the way so they can be prepared for the special sex.

But Sex Education is the first time I can recall someone being physically unable to go through with it; other shows or movies have characters change their mind because they want to wait or to have sex with someone they care about. Their bodies are ready even though their minds and hearts are not, but in this show it is the body that betrays the truth. Sex Education reminds us that sometimes it is the libido, the sex drive, that thing that Freud and HBO took as a given, which does not comply.

The belief that we all have some latent and charged sexual instinct is the kind of assumption that leads to miscommunication between partners. As we talk about affirmative consent, we need to talk about different levels of sexual desire and the fact that someone not wanting to have sex does not mean they are being rude or feel disgusted – they may, quite simply, not want to have sex.

Otis only starts to explore his sex drive after significant emotional moments with someone he cares about.

Sex Education never uses the word demisexual, but Otis struggles to negotiate his sex drive from the outset. His mother’s professional outlook is that he’s sexually repressed, and we learn that he has childhood associations of sex with guilt and shame, which supports this. He can’t even bring himself to masturbate (though he dutifully lays out tissues and porn to make it look like he has), and the few times he gets close are because of significant emotional moments shared with someone he cares about.

Every character in this show represents someone in the audience. There will be Maeves feeling empowered by her character’s confident sensuality; there will be Erics defining their own bold identities; there will be viewers of all ages and orientations who see themselves in the many patients of Otis’s underground sex therapy clinic. And there will be Otises watching who realize that their feelings and desires – or lack thereof – are equally valid. That is, in eight episodes, more sexual diversity than most of the television landscape combined.

As television continues to expand its world of stories, we find inclusivity extending; Sex Education’s diversity includes race, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, gender, and a skillful study of sexuality and sex drive itself. The show’s title refers as much to its characters’ sex education as to its audience’s. It is a testament to the lofty task of television trying to represent everybody; perhaps, with more stories like these, we may actually reach that goal.

Sex Education is now streaming on Netflix.

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Gender may be the biggest cause of hate crime against women, new data shows

Campaigners are calling for misogyny to be recognised as a hate crime.

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By Rachel Thompson2019-01-14 14:51:25 UTC

Gender may have been the motivation for over half the hate crimes reported by women in 2018, a new data analysis has revealed.

Despite the prevalence of this category of hate crime, crimes motivated by gender are “currently not recorded” or acted on as hate crimes by most police forces, per The Fawcett Society, a British gender equality organisation.

Figures from the Crime Survey of England and Wales show that there were 67,000 reports of hate crime “based on gender” last year — of which 57,000 were “targeted at women.” Respondents to the survey were asked “whether the incident was motivated by the offender’s attitude towards their sex”.

The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) defines the term “hate crime” as a “range of criminal behaviour where the perpetrator is motivated by hostility or demonstrates hostility towards the victim’s disability, race, religion, sexual orientation or transgender identity.” This criminal behaviour can include harassment, assault, intimidation, verbal abuse, threats, property damage, and bullying, per the CPS.

Gender was perceived to be the motivation for more than half of hate crimes reported by women last year, while age — which is also not recognised by police as a hate crime motivation — accounted for 41,000 incidents. Race was the third most common motivation, with 16,000 reported incidents. The data also showed that people aged between 16 and 44 were the most common targets of gender-motivated hate crimes.

In light of the data findings, campaigners have written to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick and National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) Chair Sara Thornton entreating them to support making misogyny a hate crime.

In November 2018, Dick echoed Thorton’s assertion that police should not have to tackle reports of misogyny and that it shouldn’t be considered a criminal offence, and said police should be focusing on “core policing.”

“Women have not had the confidence to report men’s violence and harassment to the police for fear of not being believed or taken seriously.”

Katie Ghose, chief executive of Women’s Aid, said that the official recognition of misogyny as a hate crime would give survivors “greater confidence that our criminal justice system will treat all forms of violence against women and girls more seriously.”

“For far too long, women have not had the confidence to report men’s violence and harassment to the police for fear of not being believed or taken seriously,” Ghose said in a statement emailed to Mashable.

“The forces that have taken a proactive approach to tackling the rife sexism and misogyny in our society have not seen an influx in reports of ‘wolf-whistling’, but rather serious reports of harassment and assault that would have otherwise passed unnoticed,” she continued.

Ghose added that the organisation is joining the call for police chiefs to support making misogyny a hate crime so that forces are equipped with ample resources to effectively police “all forms of violence against women.”

Sam Smethers, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said that the data should serve as a “wake-up call” to everyone, but that the findings are “just the tip of the iceberg.”

“Women are routinely targeted with abuse and threats online and in our streets,” said Smethers. “We know that black women, Muslim women, and Jewish women are particularly affected. The way we tackle hate crime must reflect that.

“We have to recognise how serious misogyny is,” she continued. “It is at the root of violence against women and girls. Yet it is so common that we don’t see it. Instead it is dismissed and trivialised. By naming it as a hate crime we will take that vital first step.”

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Monday Morning Digest, Playoff Edition: Conference Championship Tale of the Tape

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Butch Dill/Associated Press

Welcome to Chalk City, USA! Population: the Chiefs, Patriots, Rams and Saints.

All the home favorites won this weekend and advanced to their respective conference championships. But just because the teams that were expected to win ended up winning doesn’t mean that nothing interesting happened this weekend.

This edition of Monday Morning Digest is packed with all of this weekend’s action and plenty of insights and analysis of next week’s championship games, including:

• The unstoppable Saints weapon who could single-handedly defeat the Rams

• The little-known Rams defender who holds the key to stopping the Saints

• Defensive secrets that could lift the Patriots over the Chiefs

• Hidden advantages that could give the Chiefs the edge in their rematch with the Patriots

• Fast facts about the NFL‘s new coaching hires (there’s a six-Sean McVay-joke minimum)

• Even faster facts about new coordinator hires (most of whom were head coaches three weeks ago)

…and much, much more!

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Charles Krupa/Associated Press

No more Foles magic. No more feeding Ezekiel Elliott. No more talking about the Chargers as “sleepers” or the Colts “playing with house money.” No more “momentum,” which in the playoffs means limping into New Orleans, Kansas City or Foxborough after an exhausting stretch of games with nagging injuries and wobbly legs.

The Chiefs, Patriots, Rams and Saints all advanced to the championship round of the playoffs, just as most of us would have predicted as of Week 13 or so. They’re the NFL’s four best teams, and they proved it with four convincing wins. (Or three convincing wins and a narrow triumph over Nick Foles the 20th-level Archmage, anyway.)

There will be plenty of analysis of next Sunday’s Patriots-Chiefs and Rams-Saints matchups in the segments to come. But let’s start with a quick tale-of-the-tape breakdown of the field:

Best quarterback: Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs

Tom Brady and Drew Brees have combined to play in 52 playoff games. Mahomes will just be making his 19th career start. Experience is invaluable, but we’ll take the guy who all year long has been playing like he unlocked every cheat code in the game.

Best running back: Todd Gurley, Rams

The Rams and Patriots (Sony Michel) rely heavily on running backs they drafted recently in the first round, and the Saints also get mileage out of 2011 first-round pick Mark Ingram.

The Rams are also the team that now “does everything right” (Rams equipment managers will soon get head coaching offers), and the Patriots are of course the one that has done everything right for 20 years.

So maybe the never draft a running back early rule of modern roster architecture is more of a nuanced guideline than a firm Moneyball commandment. Just something to keep in mind when the draft rolls around.

Best receiving corps: Chiefs

Sammy Watkins returned to join Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce against the Colts, making the Chiefs so deep and talented that they didn’t bother activating Kelvin Benjamin. OK, bad example. But good luck covering all these guys.

Best offensive line: Four-way tie

The Rams, Saints and Patriots finished first, second and third in run blocking and sixth, third and first, respectively, in pass protection this season, according to Football Outsiders. The Chiefs finished 16th and fifth, but good luck defending a screen pass when their blockers get out on the perimeter.

Hmm, maybe your JV coach was right and football games really are won and lost in the trenches.

Best defensive player: Aaron Donald

Duh.

Best defensive player no one talks as much about: Trey Flowers, Patriots

Flowers recorded just 7.5 sacks but was a constant source of pressure throughout the season and is one of the best run-defenders off the edge in the league.

Best defense: Saints

The Rams have big names but are vulnerable to the run and the deep pass to whichever side of the field Marcus Peters lines up on. The Patriots are disciplined and creative but lack depth and blue-chip talent. The Chiefs’ best defense is to score 45 points. The Saints commit too many penalties but are stout against the run and can shut down the short passing game.

Biggest weakness: Chiefs run defense

They allowed 5.0 yards per rush and 19 rushing touchdowns in the regular season before allowing 6.2 yards per rush to the Colts on Saturday. Luckily for the Chiefs, opponents are usually forced to abandon the run after Mahomes’ second across-his-body touchdown pass.

Second-biggest weakness: Saints’ secondary receivers

Michael Thomas may be the most indispensable non-quarterback left in the playoffs. All of the other Saints receivers and tight ends would have trouble cracking the Jaguars roster.

Fewest weaknesses: New England Patriots

Their running game and defense are far better than they were last year. And while their downfield passing attack isn’t what it used to be, Brady can poke little holes in a defense until the whole thing collapses.

Most significant newcomer: C.J. Anderson

Cut by the Panthers and (after one week) the Raiders in the second half of the season, Anderson has rushed for 167, 132 and 123 yards in three games, giving the Rams a hefty counterpunch to Todd Gurley, not to mention a veteran in the locker room with a Super Bowl ring.

Best return game: Chiefs

Tyreek Hill, folks.

Best punter: Johnny Hekker, Rams

Hekker has the biggest leg, but it is worth noting the Chiefs allow just 5.7 yards per punt return, one of their little edges that add up when teams are trying to come back against them.

Most reliable kicker: Will Lutz, Saints

Lutz was 28-of-30 on field goals this season.

Most significant number to remember for next week: 17

That’s the expected high temperature (in degrees Fahrenheit) in Kansas City next Sunday, per The Weather Channel; the low by the local early-evening kickoff may be closer to 11 degrees. The Chiefs offense had a hard time gaining traction in icy conditions Saturday, while the Patriots have a long history of winning playoff games in a winter wonderland.

That’s right, folks: If the Patriots can’t get home-field advantage in the playoffs, Mother Nature finds a way of letting them bring it with them on the road.

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Sean Gardner/Getty Images

How they got here

The Saints appeared ready to succumb to Nick Foles’ eldritch powers when Drew Brees threw an interception on the game’s first snap and the Eagles jumped out to a 14-0 lead.

But the Eagles began fading after a second-quarter Foles interception, and Brees embarked on several long scoring drives—including an 18-play, 112-yard (thanks to penalties), 11-plus-minute marathon that Peter Jackson plans to turn into a movie trilogy—to give the Saints a 20-14 lead.

Foles ran out of miracles in the fourth quarter when Marshon Lattimore recorded his second interception of the game on a deflected pass on the Eagles’ final drive.

What the Saints do on offense

It’s all about Brees, Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara.

Brees completes nearly three-quarters of his passes: a record 74.4 percent this season to be exact. Thomas and Kamara combine for 49 percent of the Saints’ pass targets, 54 percent of the completions and 48.3 percent of the scrimmage yards.

The rest of the offensive touches are spread among Mark Ingram (mostly handoffs on first downs), Ted Ginn Jr. (deep shots that usually fail), tight ends Josh Hill and Benjamin Watson (typical tight end stuff), lots of interchangeable young receivers, and Taysom Hill (Wildcat wrinkles that started losing their novelty value around midseason).

Thomas caught 12 passes for 211 yards against the Rams in Week 9, making Marcus Peters look like an undrafted practice squader at times, and he caught 12 passes for 171 yards against the Eagles’ undrafted practice squaders on Sunday.

The Rams will have to grind through tape of the Cowboys against Thomas in Week 13 to see if they can duplicate the success they had (five catches allowed for just 40 yards) against the hardest receiver to cover in the NFL. Limit Thomas and they can shut down the Saints offense.

What the Saints do on defense

The Saints defense this season was a lot like the Saints defense on Sunday: awful early, dominant in the middle and just good enough to get the job done at the end.

The Saints stop the run well (3.6 yards per rush allowed) and generate plenty of sacks (49 in the regular season) but are vulnerable downfield. Football Outsiders ranks them dead last in the NFL at stopping deep passes, 31st against passes to the right side of the field, 30th against opponents’ No. 1 receivers and 31st against No. 2 receivers.

Eli Apple is generally considered the weak link in the Saints secondary, but Lattimore has been up and down too, and both safeties (Vonn Bell and Marcus Williams) will give up big plays if isolated in deep coverage.

Hidden keys

Pass protection up the middle: The Saints offensive line is usually reliable, but it struggled to contain the Eagles pass rush early in the game Sunday. An injury slowed Fletcher Cox in the second quarter, helping the Saints turn the tide. Interior linemen Larry Warford, Max Unger and Andrus Peat were pushed around by Aaron Donald and Ndamukong Suh in Week 9. They must do everything possible to prevent that in the rematch.

The interference factor: The Saints were flagged for pass interference 20 times in the regular season, the highest total in the league. Apple committed 10 total pass interference and holding penalties, nickel defender P.J. Williams seven. Obviously, the Saints cannot afford to gift the Rams free yardage and first downs in the rematch.

How the Saints can beat the Rams

The Rams won’t leave Peters isolated against Thomas this time; they’ll roll coverage, add heat to the pass rush or do anything else they can to force someone else on the Saints offense to beat them.

Brees and Sean Payton must get Ginn, Ingram or someone else involved in ways that the Rams aren’t anticipating. If they do that, they can compensate for their own weaknesses in the secondary and return to the Super Bowl after a nine-year absence.

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Elise Amendola/Associated Press

How they got here

The Patriots won their 28th playoff game of the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick era Sunday, jolly-stomping the Chargers 41-28 in a vintage demonstration of efficiency, game-planning, execution and a healthy dose of home-field advantage maximization that wasn’t half as close as the final score.

What they do on offense

The Patriots like to mix Sony Michel runs with intricately designed screens and short passes to James White and others on early possessions, setting up calculated downfield shots by Brady after defenders have been suctioned toward the line of scrimmage and taffy-pulled horizontally.

Those tactics worked to devastating effect against the weary Chargers defense Sunday, with Brady leading four straight long touchdown drives to start the game while barely involving any ball-handlers besides White, Michel and Julian Edelman.

A similar strategy helped the Patriots take a 24-9 halftime lead over the Chiefs in what became a 43-40 Patriots win in Week 6. The Patriots ran 17 times while Brady threw just 15 passes (taking one sack) in the first half of that game, with no passing play longer than 17 yards.

The Patriots finished fifth in the NFL in yards after catch with 2,223, per STATS, Inc. Opponents like the Lions and Titans took away the screen-and-run yardage and had success forcing Brady to throw downfield in unfavorable down-and-distance situations. But offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is a master at mixing up defenses, and Brady still has no peer when it comes to finding open receivers and picking his spots.

What they do on defense

The Patriots defense lacks big names and can still look a step slow in pass coverage against top receivers, but Bill Belichick knows how to take away what an opponent does best and always makes the most of “minor” advantages.

The Patriots recorded just 30 regular-season sacks but ranked fifth in the NFL this season at generating pressure, per Football Outsiders. Trey Flowers (who had a huge game Sunday) is the closest thing the Patriots have to a premier pass-rusher, but Belichick mixes and matches defensive fronts and deploys role players like Kyle Van Noy to great effect, harrying quarterbacks like Philip Rivers into frustrating afternoons.

The Patriots are also among the league’s surest tacklers. Opponents broke a tackle on just 8.2 percent of plays against them, the third-lowest rate in the NFL, per Football Outsiders). Opponents rarely get to take advantage of fundamental mistakes against the Patriots, on either side of the ball.

Hidden keys

Marcus Cannon: The reliable right tackle missed part of the last meeting with the Chiefs, and backup LaAdrian Waddle got pushed around in his absence. Brady enjoyed outstanding protection from both Cannon and Trent Brown against the Chargers’ big-name pass-rushers Sunday. He’ll need a repeat performance next week against Justin Houston and Dee Ford.

Jason McCourty: The Patriots cornerback, overshadowed by All-Pro bookend cornerback Stephon Gilmore and by his own twin brother—longtime Patriots safety Devin McCourty—had a quietly effective season and contained Tyreek Hill for much of the last Chiefs-Patriots game. (Gilmore is more likely to shadow Sammy Watkins.) No one defender can completely stop Hill, who whizzed through zone coverage for a 75-yard touchdown against the Patriots in the last meeting, but the Patriots have more than one McCourty.

The Road Factor: The Patriots are 1-4 in road playoff games, not counting Super Bowls, dating back to the 2005 season. They were 3-5 in road games this regular season. As much of a vivisection as Sunday’s game was, there’s no doubt home-field advantage played a part in the lopsided win (watch the Chargers’ muffed punts and delay-of-game penalties if you need more evidence than the fact the entire team looked like it just hobbled off a flight from Australia). The noisy Arrowhead crowd can do just as much to disrupt a high-precision offense as the Foxborough faithful can.

How they can beat the Chiefs

Their Week 6 victory over the Chiefs should provide the blueprint for next week: Force some Patrick Mahomes mistakes, stay balanced on offense and rely on experience to provide a situational advantage in red-zone, third-down and two-minute situations.

They won that game in a shootout because they did everything they could to avoid one. They want to make next Sunday’s game like the Chargers game: more about discipline and execution than some epic quarterback showdown.

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Harry How/Getty Images

How they got here

Todd Gurley, C.J. Anderson and the Rams offensive line steamrolled the Cowboys for 273 total rushing yards and three touchdowns while the depleted Cowboys offense managed just 308 net yards in a 30-22 Rams victory, the franchise’s first playoff victory since the 2004 season.

What the Rams do on offense

The drive train of Sean McVay’s offense is just the Mike Shanahan running-and-play-action one the Broncos used to win two Super Bowls in the ’90s.

McVay and his Millennial Genius Dream Academy have added plenty of modern-looking flourishes, of course: lots of pre-snap motion to identify coverage assignments, a persistent end-around threat to confound defenders’ run keys, updated ways of communicating plays from the sideline and using tempo to throw defenses off. But the Rams get most of their mileage out of a handful of base personnel groups, formations and play designs. Everything looks the same pre-snap, making it hard for defenses to guess what’s coming based on who is on the field and where.

Anderson has rushed for 422 yards and four touchdowns in three games since his arrival. He and Gurley are more “Thunder and More Thunder” than “Thunder and Lightning,” but they allow the Rams to hammer opponents at will up the middle. Let them take a lead on you, and the Rams will control the line of scrimmage and the clock.

Per Next Gen Stats, Jared Goff averages 2.94 seconds in the pocket per throw, the sixth-longest figure in the NFL. Most of the quarterbacks above him are scramblers who buy time by running around, but Goff gets all of that extra time to scan the field thanks to all of that play-action and the stout Rams offensive line.

What the Rams do on defense

Aaron Donald is the best defender in the NFL, with 20.5 sacks, 41 quarterback hits and four forced fumbles this season.

Marcus Peters may be the worst big-name defender in the NFL: Football Outsiders charged him with allowing 9.7 yards per pass to his defenders (85th in the league), and his freelance approach to coverage often leaves other defenders taking blame for his mistakes. As noted in the Saints segment, Peters vs. Mike Thomas is not so much a mismatch as a means of crashing the servers trying to calculate Thomas’ fantasy points.

Beating the Rams means stopping Donald and attacking Peters and the secondary, just as beating the Rams offense means stopping the run and eliminating easy play-action opportunities. The Saints destroyed Peters and did just enough to contain Donald in the first meeting. They need a command performance, at least.

Hidden keys

Cory Littleton: The best player no one talks about, Littleton excels in pass coverage—he led the Rams with 13 passes defensed—and blocked a pair of kicks in the regular season. He will be assigned the task of covering Alvin Kamara for much of the game.

Aqib Talib: He wasn’t available in the last meeting with the Saints but is back (and fired up after beating the Cowboys), giving the Rams more flexibility against Thomas in the secondary.

Robert Woods: Woods may be the NFL’s best blocking receiver, sealing the edge when the Rams line up in bunch formations and often blocking downfield to extend Gurley and Anderson’s long runs. His ability to act like an extra tight end in the running game allows the Rams to keep the same personnel on the field without tipping their tendencies.

How the Rams can beat the Saints

The Rams are the better team on paper, are much deeper on offense and coming off a more convincing victory this weekend. They lost the last game by getting too cute with fake field goals and letting the Saints exploit an obvious mismatch. McVay and his staff just have to be smarter this time. Considering their billing these days, that should be a snap.

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David Eulitt/Getty Images

How they got here

The Chiefs took an early 17-0 lead on the worn-down, out-of-sync Colts and then survived several blunders (and a scary moment when Patrick Mahomes limped to the sideline after an awkward fall) for a 31-13 victory. It was just their second playoff win since the 1993 season.

What they do on offense

Mahomes (who scrambled and dove for a touchdown just minutes after taking that spill) does five or six things per game that make you think you are watching the young Brett Favre: no-look passes, across-the-body throws into coverage that somehow reach their target, sidearm tosses that appear to curve around defenders.

There’s a downside to looking like the young Favre, though: Mahomes takes unnecessary sacks, forces throws and tries too often to do the impossible.

The Patriots saw both sides of Mahomes in their 43-40 victory in Week 6. Mahomes threw two first-half interceptions to help the Patriots mount a big lead and then rebounded to throw four second-half touchdowns in an almost-comeback.

The Chiefs offense looks like an uptempo NBA offense at times. Mahomes is the needle-threading, driving-and-dishing point guard. Tyreek Hill is the provider of alley-oop dunks and ankle-breaking drives to the basket. Travis Kelce is the low-post scorer. And the Chiefs offensive line, the best in the league at blocking on the perimeter and down the field, is like a bunch of role players setting deadly picks to create space for the playmakers.

What they do on defense

To extend the basketball metaphor, the Chiefs run a full-court pressing-and-trapping defense, which allows lots of easy layups but forces opponents into mistakes and turnovers when they try to keep pace with their offense.

The Chiefs want opponents to fall behind so they can forget about the running game and unleash pass-rushers Justin Houston, Dee Ford and Chris Jones (37.5 combined sacks, 14 forced fumbles). The Patriots ran up the score quickly against the Chiefs in Week 6, but most other opponents have not been up to the task. The Chiefs held the lead for an average of 39 minutes, nine seconds per game this season, per Football Outsiders, the widest margin in the league by over three minutes.

The Colts fell behind five minutes into Saturday’s game and might as well have just warmed up the team bus. The Patriots need another start like in Week 6 (when they turned a Mahomes pick into an early touchdown) or Sunday (multiple time-consuming touchdown marches) to avoid playing into the Chiefs’ hands.

Hidden keys

Ware and Berry: Running back Spencer Ware and former Pro Bowl safety Eric Berry practiced last week but were deactivated for the Colts game. Ware’s return would provide a counterpunch for Damien Williams, who rushed for 129 yards against the Colts but sometimes eschews easy yardage in search of a big gain. Berry only played sparingly this year in late-season losses to the Chargers and Seahawks, but the Chiefs secondary needs all the help it can get against Tom Brady.

Special teams: The Chiefs surrendered a blocked punt for a touchdown Saturday, Hill fumbled a punt deep in his own territory (the Chiefs recovered) and a holding penalty negated a long Hill return. The Chiefs special teams are typically among the league’s best, so look for coordinator Dave Toub to clean things up. But keep an eye on veteran long snapper James Winchester, whose placement was off on several snaps Saturday.

Fourth downs: The Chiefs were 12-of-15 converting fourth downs during the season and 3-of-4 on Saturday. The Patriots must be ready to stop 4th-and-short conversions in their territory. That may mean being more aggressive on 3rd-and-long, so the Chiefs can’t gain easy yards in front of the sticks to set up a conversion opportunity.

How they can beat the Patriots

The Chiefs beat the Patriots 41-14 in their last trip to Arrowhead in September 2014. The Chiefs also beat the Patriots 42-27 in the 2017 season opener; both victories occurred BME (Before the Mahomes Era).

The Chiefs are one of the few NFL teams that don’t have a history of getting awestruck against the Patriots. Victory may be as simple as playing their brand of football and realizing they are facing the 2018 Patriots, not the 2001-2017 Patriots.

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Tom Pennington/Getty Images

What the offseason has in store for the four teams that were eliminated from the playoffs this weekend.

Los Angeles Chargers

The core of the team is signed through next year, with enough cap space (about $25 million) to take care of in-house free agents and pursue a modest upgrade or two.

With Philip Rivers aging weekly (he fast-forwarded about six years in Sunday’s second quarter alone), the Chargers need to take an all-in approach before Rivers turns to dust and Joey Bosa hits the 2020 extension market.

What “all in” means is hard to define for a team with no extra cap assets, few weaknesses and a division foe in the Chiefs that is likely to be looking down at them from above again next season. Whether they pursue a bold trade or twist their budget into a pretzel for an over-the-top player (Antonio Brown? LET’S START A RUMOR), the Chargers must do something to prevent themselves from traveling back and forth across the country for playoff games next year.

Indianapolis Colts

With a young roster, an extra second-round pick in 2019 and $115 million in cap space, the Colts are prime candidates to take the leap from pesky playoff spoiler to true Super Bowl contender.

Some of that cap dough will go to in-house free agents as the Colts sift through surprise contributors like Margus Hunt and Pierre Desir and quality role players like Dontrelle Inman and Chester Rogers in search of long-term keepers.

The Colts could use another impact player in the pass rush, in the secondary and in the receiving corps. They have the resources—and the draft-day acumen—to pick up one of each.

Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys’ late-season surge means a contract extension for Jason Garrett and essentially guarantees a massive franchise-quarterback deal for Dak Prescott in the not-too-distant future.

Both of these developments are very mixed blessings. But Garrett looks like he should be able to retain top defensive assistant Kris Richard for another year, and Prescott made real strides as a passer once Amari Cooper arrived to give him someone to throw to. So the 2019 Cowboys have a chance to be more like the team we saw in the second half of this season than the one we saw for most of late 2017 and early 2018.

The Cowboys have $55 million in cap space next year, but a new deal for Tank Lawrence and a Prescott extension (Jerry Jones won’t want to wait until Prescott gets close to the 2020 market) will eat up huge chunks of it.

Philadelphia Eagles

The Eagles will probably void the $20 million option on Nick Foles’ contract (or allow Foles to exercise his opt-out clause), letting Foles work his magic in free agency while the team uses that $20 million to crawl back under the salary cap ceiling and keep as much of its veteran core intact for another playoff run under Carson Wentz.

If you think that’s not what the Eagles will or should do, please remember that no one would have been thinking about Foles magic Sunday if Kirk Cousins could win a game that mattered or Cody Parkey could make a field goal that mattered.

Free agency won’t be a realistic option for them, but the Eagles will get several young defensive veterans back from injury in the offseason and look to upgrade their running game and reinforce an aging offensive line through the draft.

Oh, and Wentz was an MVP candidate two years ago and played well most of this year, so getting him back will be a huge plus. People tend to forget that.

All cap figures courtesy of OverTheCap.com.

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Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images

Defender of the week: Marshon Lattimore’s second-quarter interception of Nick Foles was the first thing the Saints defense did right Sunday. It set up a touchdown drive to cut the Saints’ deficit to 14-7. His second interception, on a pass deflected by Alshon Jeffery, iced the game for the Saints and proved once and for all that Foles is mortal.

Offensive line of the week: Andrew Whitworth, Rodger Saffold, John Sullivan, Austin Blythe and Rob Havenstein utterly dominated a very good Cowboys front seven, helping the Rams rush for 273 yards and 5.7 yards per carry.

Special teamer of the week: Najee Goode appeared to swing momentum in the Colts’ favor when he blocked a Dustin Colquitt punt that Zach Pascal recovered for a touchdown. Unfortunately, the Colts were so dedicated to getting in their own way Saturday that even momentum couldn’t help them.

Special teams goat of the week: It’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment when the Chargers abandoned all semblance of hope, but it may have been when they finally forced a punt while trailing 28-7, only to watch Desmond King muff it and Albert McClellan recover it for the Patriots.

Special teams era-ender of the week: Adam Vinatieri missed an extra point and bounced a 23-yard field goal off the left upright for the Colts. Vinatieri, now 46, had never missed an extra point in 31 previous postseason games spanning two decades.

Mystery touch of the week: Taysom Hill’s four-yard fake-punt run, moments after Lattimore’s first interception, helped the Saints work their way back into a game the Eagles controlled for the entire first quarter. Hill also nearly caught a touchdown bomb Sunday, and he threw a 46-yard touchdown strike to Alvin Kamara that was negated by a holding penalty during the Saints’ epic 18-play Lawrence of Arabia drive. It was an eventful day for everyone’s favorite gadget specialist, even if it didn’t look that way on the stat sheet.

Grasp at straws of the week: Dak Prescott was ruled “in the grasp” for a sack Saturday night when referees saw someone’s arms wrapped around the Cowboys quarterback. That “someone” turned out to be Prescott’s teammate La’el Collins, steadying Prescott after a collision in the pocket. But there’s not much an official can do after blowing a premature whistle except defend the call like a sweaty lawyer on 60 Minutes, which is exactly what official John Parry did when interviewed by pool reporter Sam Farmer after the game. Hey, at least Parry didn’t flag Collins for holding as well.

Grind of the week: Colts defensive end Denico Autry got a sack of Patrick Mahomes by…giving a private dance to a referee? Yep, that’s the best description of what he did, and instead of getting a rolled-up 20 thrown at him, he drew a 15-yard penalty. As mentioned earlier, even momentum could not stop the Colts from getting in their own way.

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Adrian Kraus/Associated Press

You know all the big stories surrounding this year’s coaching hires. So this segment of Digest takes you inside some of the smaller stories you may have overlooked.

Buccaneers hire Bruce Arians.

The Buccaneers hired a search firm called Korn-Ferry to assist with the search, which led to one of the most famous coaches on the market, which is a lot like hiring a travel agent to identify top family vacation destinations and then going to Disney World.

Next time, the Buccaneers should just save some money and research Sean McVay on Ancestry.com instead.

Broncos hire Vic Fangio.

It appeared that John Elway would assign his majordomo Gary Kubiak to Fangio as offensive coordinator, but then Elway and Kubiak had some sort of sudden falling out, so Elway tried to go the Next McVay route with 49ers quarterbacks coach Rich Scangarello (from the Kyle Shanahan country-cousin branch of the McVay tree). The 49ers refused to let Elway interview Scangarello, though, causing ominous thunder to roll across the Rockies.

Near the Fall of Rome in the late fourth and early fifth centuries, loyal, grizzled generals were often given the title of emperor and tasked with beating back the Visigoths while the aristocrats and archbishops squabbled over their ever-dwindling power and influence.

What does this have to do with the Broncos, you ask? All hail Emperor Fangio Victorious!

Dolphins expected to hire Brian Flores.

Flores is proof that inexperienced black coaches can earn the “Next Big Thing” coaching label, too. Approximately 12.5 percent of the time. After all of the white candidates have been sifted through.

Maybe the Dolphins will allow 3.5 points per game next season and every owner who fires a coach in 2020 will be seeking a young assistant of color who rose through the ranks by coaching special teams and defensive backs…nah, they’ll just use Flores as justification for hiring more Baby Belichicks.

Jets hire Adam Gase.

Per ESPN’s Jeff Darlington, Jets owner Christopher Johnson was ultimately swayed by a Gase endorsement phone call from Peyton Manning.

Johnson is apparently unaware that Manning has stumped for Gase for so long that he now just robocalls a prerecorded message to NFL headquarters asking them to hire Gase and to call a toll-free number about their expired auto warranties.

At least Johnson didn’t hire a headhunter to put him in touch with Manning to get the endorsement.

Gase will continue to face the Patriots twice per year. You have to admire Manning’s commitment to losing to Tom Brady, even after retirement.

Cardinals hire Kliff Kingsbury.

Kingsbury had to pay USC a $150,000 buyout to get out of the contract he signed to become the Trojans offensive coordinator a few weeks ago. We’re one step away from the NCAA demanding cash scholarship refunds from players who leave school for the NFL early.

The Cardinals are expected to pay Kingsbury’s buyout. They’ll just borrow the money back from Sam Bradford. With interest.

Browns hire Freddie Kitchens.

Per Mark Inabinett of Al.com, Kitchens is just the sixth former University of Alabama player to become an NFL head coach. The others: Harry Gilmer (mediocre Lions coach in the 1960s), Bart Starr (Hall of Fame quarterback turned mediocre Packers coach of the 1970s-’80s), Ray Perkins (mediocre Giants and Buccaneers coach of the 1980s), Richard Williamson (Perkins’ assistant who took over the Bucs from him, with subpar results) and Mike Riley (less than mediocre Chargers coach from 1999-2001).

So Kitchens could go 9-7 next season and become the most successful Browns coach in over a decade and the best Alabama-alum head coach ever.

Packers hire Matt LaFleur.

Team CEO Mark Murphy called LaFleur “the most prepared candidate. It was obviously he really did his research, knew everything about our roster and everything else.”

It’s hard to tell what’s more disturbing: top NFL execs who are impressed that coaching candidates know as much about their teams as the average fan who is in a lot of fantasy leagues knows or that some coaching candidates must show up for interviews without such knowledge for execs like Murphy to say things like that.

Bengals expected to hire Zac Taylor.

Taylor is the Rams quarterbacks coach, and his brother Press Taylor is the Eagles’ well-regarded quarterbacks coach. With McVay family-family ties, connections to the Doug Pederson wing of the Andy Reid family tree and a share of the Nick Foles-Carson Wentz credit, Press Taylor will be named Supreme Benevolent Highfather of Earth in 2022.

Zac Taylor is also the son-in-law of former Packers head coach Mike Sherman, which only goes to show you that the NFL doesn’t just need to expand its coaching pool but also its coaches’ dating pool.

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Matt Rourke/Associated Press

The NFL and NFLPA issue a joint statement declaring that Eric Reid’s drug tests this year were randomly generated.

Point: “I flipped the coin, and I can assure you it came up ‘Good Heads,’” said NFL Vice President of Randomization Harvey Dent.

Counterpoint: “Why would the NFL purposely go after Reid when all it would do is make the league look bad and leave itself open for litigation?” ask observers who have somehow forgotten that this whole mess started with Colin Kaepernick.

The Washington Post‘s Mark Maske reports that, per a source, Reid was not tested as many times as he publicly claimed to have been tested.

Point: The report appeared within minutes of the NFL-NFLPA statement. What a coincidence. Next time, the NFL should just attach the official statement and the self-serving rumor to the same email for the sake of convenience.

Counterpoint: Reid must have lumped a mandatory drug test in with several random drug tests, which can be construed as misleading—but when a law-abiding citizen is treated like the new arrival at a halfway house for narcotics offenders, the exact categories of the drug tests tend to all run together.

Tim Tebow gets engaged to former Miss Universe Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters.

Point: Gossiping about Tebow’s love life is soooo early 2010s. Inquiring minds in 2019 want to know: Who is Sean McVay involved with?

Counterpoint: Oh, Veronika Khomyn. (Shuffles papers awkwardly) Alrighty, then.

Actor Bryan Cranston appears on NFL Network and delivers a message as Walter White from Breaking Bad to Nick Foles.

Point: Foles responds by wondering why the dad from Malcolm in the Middle is acting so scary.

Counterpoint: Actor Mark Wahlberg responded by delivering a message to Tom Brady: “I’m there for you, pal. At least until halftime.”

Bonus counter-counterpoint: Oh, you saw Foles and Wahlberg and thought we were going in the Boogie Nights direction? Get your head out of the gutter!

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Darron Cummings/Associated Press

That’s right, True Believers. The Point-Counterpoint team is pulling double duty to provide bonus coverage of this week’s assistant coaching news and gossip.

The Cardinals hire Vance Joseph as defensive coordinator, the Buccaneers hire Todd Bowles as defensive coordinator and the Browns are working to hire Steve Wilks as defensive coordinator.

Point: We’d wonder why teams aren’t seeking innovative young defensive masterminds to keep pace with all of the innovative young offensive masterminds if we weren’t afraid it would just lead to the hiring of a half-dozen more inexperienced white dudes.

Counterpoint: So, what, a black coach can be a no-nonsense, tough-talking sidekick but not the suave, sophisticated hero? It’s almost like NFL decision-makers all come from the demographic that watches nothing on television but old movies and police procedurals.

Ravens promote Greg Roman to offensive coordinator.

Point: “Great hire! Roman designed offenses for Tyrod Taylor and Colin Kaepernick. He will do something similar for Lamar Jackson.” — Stat heads and tape grinders

Counterpoint: “Stupid hire! Roman designed offenses for Tyrod Taylor and Colin Kaepernick. He will do something similar for Lamar Jackson.” — Angry uncles on Facebook and Bills fans

Bears hire Chuck Pagano as defensive coordinator.

Point: They figured a really unpopular move would take some of the heat off Cody Parkey.

Counterpoint: Pagano is actually a darn good defensive coordinator, and he will prove it now that he is not saddled with a general manager, Ryan Grigson, who would find some way of undoing the Khalil Mack trade if he were in charge of the Bears.

Vikings retain Kevin Stefanski as offensive coordinator.

Point: It’s better to obey your head coach’s orders, run up the middle on early downs and lose a must-win game than try something that has a chance to work and get blamed when it fails.

Counterpoint: But it’s best to be Brian Schottenheimer, run up the middle on early downs whether the coach wants you to or not, lose must-win games but have a famous dad.

Jets expected to hire Gregg Williams as defensive coordinator.

Point: Williams was forced to take the job after his handwritten head coaching resume arrived at Bengals, Dolphins and Packers headquarters five days late because Pony Express service has been impacted by the government shutdown.

Counterpoint: Goofy press conferences. A defense that talks a good game but fails at the worst moment. Just what Jets fans were clamoring for: a weak-tea reboot of the Rex Ryan era.

Falcons bring back Dirk Koetter as offensive coordinator.

Point: Look, you can make me lampoon racial disparities in the NFL, make fun of powerful people, even do some edgy political stuff. But you don’t pay me nearly half enough to make sense of or pay attention to the Falcons.

Counterpoint: Same here. I’m out.

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Afghanistan: Blast rocks eastern Kabul district: Reuters

An explosion has rocked the Afghan capital, Kabul, in an area that is home to international NGOs and companies, security officials have said.

An Afghan government security source told the Reuters news agency that the explosion had taken place on Monday in eastern Kabul.

“A blast was heard in Kabul, we are still investigating further,” police spokesperson Basir Mujahid Kabul told Reuters.

More soon…

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Watch the electrifying gymnastics routine that has the internet flipping out

By Marcus Gilmer2019-01-14 14:15:28 UTC

Sometimes there’s a video that’s so amazing, so full of life and exuberance, that not even the internet can ruin it. Like this one of UCLA gymnast Katelyn Ohashi at Saturday’s Collegiate Challenge in Anaheim, California.

Set to a medley of classic Motown tunes like Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary” and the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back,” her performance is electrifying. Ohashi leaps and flies across the mat with an energy, enthusiasm, and a beaming smile that’s impossible to resist.

Just look at the way her teammates react, too, around the 30-second mark, echoing her moves and cheering her on. Ohashi got a perfect 10 and helped push UCLA to a win at the weekend tournament.

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Theresa May tells MPs: It’s my deal, no deal, or no Brexit

British Prime Minister Theresa May has warned MPs if they reject her deal to leave the European Union, they risk either leaving without a deal or not leaving at all.

British parliamentarians are set to vote on the government’s deal on Tuesday, after an earlier attempt to gain approval in December was postponed because it faced almost certain defeat.

The Conservative leader has so far failed to placate opposing factions within the United Kingdom Parliament and her own party.

Protesters march ahead of voting on Brexit deal in UK Parliament (2:08)

Hardline MPs want a complete break with the EU, or a hard Brexit, while others want either another referendum or a soft break with the EU that maintains key economic and policy structures, such as the common Customs Union and the Single Market.

Speaking at a factory in the northern city of Stoke-on-Trent on Monday, May said she was looking to “close the debate” on Brexit.

“What is important is that we deliver on the result of the referendum,” the prime minister said, arguing any attempt to stay in the bloc would be a betrayal of the British electorate.

Struggle for votes

May said all other alternatives to her deal were either unworkable or would not deliver on the results of the 2016 referendum.

Her minority government has struggled to garner enough votes to pass the deal, with the main source of disagreement within her own party being the fate of Northern Ireland’s border with the Republic of Ireland, an EU member state.

May’s deal includes a temporary “backstop” arrangement on the island of Ireland, which allows the free movement of people, goods, and services between the north and south, thereby avoiding the need for a hard border.

Unionists in the north worry the deal would leave the area more beholden to EU rules than British, while Conservative MPs say such an arrangement will force the UK to continue abiding by EU rules.

UK’s no-deal Brexit rehearsal with mass truck convoy (2:37)

Tuesday’s vote, which May is likely to lose despite her assurances that she convinced more Conservative MPs of her standpoint, is the culmination of two years of negotiations with the EU and political wrangling within the UK.

May’s predecessor, David Cameron, had resigned in the aftermath of the referendum result and subsequent election, which May hoped would ensure a greater mandate to deliver her Brexit deal, saw her lose her parliamentary majority.

The British prime minister has since seen regular resignations of Brexiteers and Remainers within her cabinet.

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Miley Cyrus wishes Liam Hemsworth a happy birthday all over social media and it’s the sweetest

By Laura Byager2019-01-14 12:53:59 UTC

Back in December, Miley Cyrus graced social media with the loveliest wedding photos when she married her boyfriend, Liam Hemsworth, over Christmas.

And now, Cyrus has spread the couple cuteness once again. This time, on the occasion of new husband Hemsworth’s 29th Birthday.

On Instagram, Cyrus shared a long list of things she loves about her husband in the form of screenshots from the notes app.

“HBD to Da Hubz,” Cyrus wrote as a caption to the post, which reads like a long love letter sprinkled with heart eye emoji.

In case you don’t feel like clicking through, here are some screenshots of her screenshots.

Image: @MILEYCYRUS/INSTAGRAM

After posting the endearing letter, Cyrus also posted a 2009 vs 2019 throwback photo of the two.

The photo, apparently taken on July 13 2009, shows Cyrus and Hemsworth dressed to the (two thousand and) nines.

Over on Twitter, Cyrus shared a video of Hemsworth dancing *very* enthusiastically to the 2005 mega hit “One Way Ticket” by The Darkness, tagging her husband.

Cyrus, who recently returned to social media after a several-month-long of hiatus to promote her newest hit single “Nothing Breaks Like a Heart,” is clearly killing the social media couple game.

We’re so happy you’re back in our feeds, Miley.

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NBA Rumors: Robin Lopez Interested in Warriors; Bulls Refuse to Buy out Contract

Chicago Bulls center Robin Lopez (42) shoots against Washington Wizards center Ian Mahinmi (28) and forward Sam Dekker, left, during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, Dec. 28, 2018, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Nick Wass/Associated Press

The Chicago Bulls are reportedly refusing to negotiate a buyout with center Robin Lopez because they believe they can trade him for assets to help their rebuild.

Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported the move, noting Lopez plans to sign with the Golden State Warriors if he is eventually bought out.

Adding Lopez would give the Warriors a formidable pair at the enter position, with DeMarcus Cousins returning to the lineup this week after sitting out the first three months recovering from an Achilles tear.

Lopez told Haynes:

“I don’t think there’s an NBA player that doesn’t want to be on a winning team, a playoff team. I feel like I’m kind of smack dab in the middle of the prime of my career. Who doesn’t relish playing in playoff situations? That’s something very appealing, and whether that’s something the organization and myself come together and decide, that’s something we want to work towards with this team, or whether that’s something that’s going to happen somewhere else, I’m just going to keep grinding. I think right now we definitely aspire to be a winning team, and I want to help out with that.”

Lopez has been relegated to a small role for the rebuilding Bulls, who have emphasized getting young players extended minutes. He’s averaging 5.6 points and 2.5 rebounds per game, his worst numbers since the 2011-12 season. His per-36-minute stats are his worst since he was a rookie.

The Warriors have spent the last month-and-a-half playing without a traditional center after Damian Jones suffered a torn pectoral. Jones has been given no formal timetable to return, and his spot in the rotation is tenuous when he does because of Cousins’ presence. It’s unclear what level of interest the Warriors have in Lopez, given their predilection for floor spacing.

“I think it’s an appealing situation for just about anybody in the league,” Lopez said of Golden State. “You go there, they share the ball, they play defense, they play the right way. But right now, that’s something we’re aspiring to do here. And there’s a certain joy in trying build a culture like that, and I appreciate being a veteran in that position of helping shepherd a team towards that point.”

Lopez is making $14.4 million in the final year of a four-year, $54 million contract he originally signed with the New York Knicks in 2015.

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