My name is Jackson DeGrood. At OHS Magnet, I’m a sports writer, sports editor, and a sports enthusiast. Here is my monthly recap of all of the big four sports and major events in the sporting world. Here we also talk about all Minnesota sports and the local Huskies. We also give you our Dawgs of the Month: people who may not get the spotlight, but played spectacular this month.
This month is loaded with basketball, football, and baseball. Let’s get straight into it.
Football:
The draft was full of surprises and last second moves. There was way too much to cover as a whole so I will just go over the Vikings. The Vikings had a fantastic draft- they traded up and got a value pick in JJ McCarthy at the number 10 spot. This was an absolute steal for such a good quarterback. Most teams rated him as the third best quarterback in the draft but was drafted as the fifth in the draft. People also should not be upset that they traded to ten to get our quarterback. To put things in perspective, they traded two very late draft picks to get the face of our franchise. If they decided to wait for him to fall to 11, another team could have traded up or the jets could have drafted him themselves. The next pick for the Vikings was at 17 where they took Alabama edge rusher Dallas Turner. Another huge pick as he was projected to go, in some mock drafts, at number eight to the Atlanta Falcons. Hopefully, Johnathan Greenard and Dallas Turner can help pressure up front with the loss of Danielle Hunter. The following pick for the Vikings was another great pick up in Khyree Jackson, this guy is a stud. The fact he fell all the way to the third round is crazy and was a lock down corner for Alabama and Oregon. He may not find immediate success with the Vikings, but I truly believe that within three to four years he will be a very good corner that can defend a wide receiver one or two. In the sixth and seventh round, the Vikings had four picks. I will not be covering three of them due to lack of knowledge of them and I do not want to misspeak or under-represent their talents. Those three picks are all offensive and defensive lineman. The last pick I do want to talk about is the addition of our third Alabama player, kicker Will Reichard. This guy was a stud with the Crimson Tide and will hopefully be a solid kicker for the Vikings and fix the long curse of VIkings kickers.
Basketball:
In the NBA, the playoffs are in full swing as the first round is almost over. There is too much to go in depth on, so I will briefly go over each series and go in depth with the Timberwolves. By now, most series are typically decided unless there becomes some major upset that nobody was expecting. In the Eastern Conference, here are my quick predictions: The Pacers will take down the Bucks in six games, The Knicks will beat the 76ers in a gentleman’s sweep (4-1), and The Celtics will take down the Heat in another gentleman’s sweep. One series I left out is The Magic vs. The Cavaliers. The series is currently at two games a piece and is extremely interesting- reason being is that both teams are so young and they may not make a huge run this season but will be forces to reckon with soon. If these teams keep their roster together, especially The Magic, they could be contenders for a championship in the next three or four years. The Magic’s young core could potentially develop into the next dynasty as their main players are all under the age of 21. I predict this series will go into seven games with The Cavaliers coming out on top solely due to the fact that Donovan Mitchell has dramatically more playoff experience than anyone on the Magic. Even though I am a huge Celtics fan, I am more than excited to see The Magic develop over the course of the next couple years.
Now breaking into the Western Conference, I will not have to speak too much on predictions as The Nuggets, Thunder, and Timberwolves have all won their series in four or five games. The last series going on is The Clippers vs.The Mavericks. This series I also believe will be taken into game seven with the Mavericks coming on top. For both teams, this season is part of the ticking timer they are on with aging stars on both sides. The Mavericks will still have a prime Luka Doncic for quite some time so they are in less of an urgency to make a finals appearance. The winner of this series will take on The Thunder in an interesting series. The Clippers are one of the oldest teams in the league but The Thunder is the youngest team in the NBA, due to this I believe they will have a second round collapse with lack of playoff experience but this is not to frown on as a Thunder fan. They too could have a dynasty in the coming years.
The series I want to specifically go in depth on is the Nuggets vs. Timberwolves series. On the Nuggets side, Jamal Murray is looking scary. He will be the X-factor in this series. They just beat the Lakers in a five game series in which Jamal Murray hit two game winning shots. For the Timberwolves, they just dismantled one of the biggest, disappointing teams of all time that featured Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal who was just acquired for, basically, The Suns’ entire future until 2030. Going into this next series with a full head of steam, the key to their success must come from the same recipe they cooked up the entire season: depth. The Timberwolves are so scary because every single player can get hot and change the game, when one person is having a bad game, the other players are not. In this next series, they will need Jaden McDaniels to stay hot on offense. This is not the only thing that needs to happen as the Wolves are underdogs (+180 in some sportsbooks). They will also need to have either Anthony Edwards or Karl-Anthony Towns to be hot in every single game and Rudy Gobert will need to keep his offense efficiency high as it has been all season. On defense, they will need to eliminate Jamal Murray from the equation and continue to let Nikola Jokic be himself since he has been impossible to stop in recent years. Another key piece is the return of coach Finch. There is not much information about what is going on with him but he may miss a few games due to his recent collision with Mike Conley. My prediction- Timberwolves win in a seven game series.
Baseball:
In the MLB, the season just started and there is way too much to talk about so I will just quickly cover the Twins. Though they had a slow start to the season as they started out with a record of 7-13 and had a run differential of up to -65 to start the season. After this tragic start, they caught fire and have been on an eight game win streak. Their bats have been awesome as they have scored a whopping 60 runs through these eight games. The Twins hope to redeem their abysmal start to the season and be in the mix of playoffs all season.
In high school, after a rough home opener, The Huskies’ baseball team has hit the ground running with a current record of 6-2. This record has been due to a mix of great pitching and even better hitting with stars such as Mitchell Seykora having a great season at the plate with a homerun and with a return of Huskies’ hockey star, center fielder Owen Beyer having a handful of hits and RBIs himself to start the season.
Deggy’s Dawgs of the Month:
Minnesota Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards (Guard), New York Knicks’ Jalen Brunson (Guard), Minnesota Vikings’ JJ McCarthy (Quarterback), Indiana Pacers’ Myles Turner (Center), and OHS Huskies’ Noah Truelson (First baseman).
Shoutout to Huskies Boys’ Lacrosse attack Jack Strom as he has had a great season despite having a slow start as a team. He is currently on pace to break the Owatonna all time goal record in lacrosse.
Overall, the 24sports year is expected to be entertaining and electrifying. In Minnesota, not so much. Stay tuned for May’s edition of Deggy’s Dog Pound, which will be the final edition of the series. Thanks for coming along for the 2023-24 sports season.
