
Harvard-Westlake grads Max Fried, Pete Crow-Armstrong could face off at All-Star Game
'We're all proud on campus,' said LaCour, now the school's athletic director and former coach of Fried.
'It's kind of everyone wins if Max faces Pete,' Halpert said.
Harvard-Westlake has received attention for its success sending pitchers to the majors with Fried, Lucas Giolito and Jack Flaherty, all of whom were members of the 2012 team and first-round draft picks.
Crow-Armstrong, a first-round draft pick in 2020 who was selected by the fans to start in center field, is a breakthrough hitter for the Cubs.
'We've got a couple hitters coming through, so maybe we'll change the pitching narrative,' LaCour said.
But who will the coaches root for if Fried is on the mound and Crow-Armstrong is at the plate?
'That definitely would be cool,' LaCour said. 'I'll root for Max and Jared will root for Pete.'
LaCour is in Atlanta this week coaching a youth team and will stay an extra two days to watch the All-Star Game. Halpert is flying out next Tuesday morning, then taking a rideshare to the ballpark.
They shouldn't have any trouble getting tickets because they know an all-star.
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Miami Herald
30 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
Evaluating Heat's asset management and rationale: The regrettable and defensible
In this NBA era when free agency is no longer much of a thing, the biggest winners generally acquire superstars via the draft or trade; or get the better end of trades involving very good players (case in point: Indiana with Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam) or collect a treasure trove of assets, particularly first-round picks, that can then be flipped for good players (see the Knicks and Spurs as two examples). The Heat's asset management has been the focus of criticism among a segment of fans frustrated by three consecutive years of needing to qualify for the playoffs through the play-in (Miami made the NBA Finals the first of those years), combined with a current roster that looks far closer to a play-in team than a championship contender. A team source said that the reason Heat hasn't tried to collect a cornucopia of first-round picks — as the Knicks, Rockets and Spurs have done — is twofold. Doing that would run counter to Miami's core philosophy of: 1). 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Last season, players shot 47.4% against him — higher than the 45.6% they shot overall. In our view, this was the Heat's first trade this decade in which it somewhat diminished the on-court product purely for financial reasons. The Heat doesn't look at it that way because of Highsmith's defensive regression, as Ethan Skolnick reported. But his three-point shooting (39.6 and 38.2% the past two years) and effort and defensive verve were assets. And just last April, coach Erik Spoelstra was praising Highsmith's tenacity and noting of Highsmith (and Davion Mitchell) that 'you want guys that are just going to be disruptive and change the energy of the game.' It's not a big loss, but it's a loss. This decade, Miami gave up five second-round picks essentially for 2 1/2 months of Trevor Ariza (acquired for Meyers Leonard and a second round pick), a year-and-a-half of Love and tax relief. That leaves the Heat with one future second-rounder (2027). 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Powell was one of only six NBA players last season to average at least 21 points while shooting better than 48% from the field and 40% from three-point range. The other players in this exclusive group: Nikola Jokic, Durant, Karl-Anthony Towns, Zach LaVine and Kawhi Leonard. That deal also justified the Heat's decision to give Love a second guaranteed season at $4.2 million, because it helped facilitate the Powell trade. ▪ Dealing P.J. Tucker, a second-round pick and cash to Toronto for Mitchell in February. After the Raptors changed their mind about acquiring Tucker in the five-team Jimmy Butler trade with Golden State, Miami smartly pivoted and acquired Mitchell, who was a revelation at point guard and agreed to a two-year, $24 million deal this summer. ▪ Not trading Max Strus, Gabe Vincent or Caleb Martin before their contracts expired. Though some wondered why Miami didn't ship them off before they became free agents, none likely would have netted a first-round pick in return. 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30 minutes ago
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30 minutes ago
- USA Today
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