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      New Quarterbacks and Coaches Give Jets and Giants Some Hope

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      The Jets and Giants have dismal recent histories pocked by playoff misses and last-place finishes. With new hires and draft picks, and healthy contributors, the only way to go in 2021 is up.The Jets and Giants have done more than their share of losing during the more than six decades that they’ve shared New York’s pro football stage. The Giants had a 17-year playoff drought that started in the Johnson administration. The Jets have never been back to the Super Bowl after their upset victory over the Baltimore Colts in the 1968 season.But in the last decade, they have collectively skidded to new lows. The Cleveland Browns made the postseason last year, making the Jets the owners of the N.F.L.’s longest playoff drought at 10 years. The Giants have made the playoffs only once since their title run in the 2011 season. Each team has won just 18 games in the last four years. In 2020, the Giants had the second-worst offense in the N.F.L., ranking only ahead of the Jets.With all that recent history, it takes precious little beyond a dip in temperatures and the announcement of a handful of new personnel to spark optimism that one of the city’s pro football franchises will be better than dismal.In the case of the Jets, a new head coach, Robert Saleh, and starting quarterback, Zach Wilson, drafted with the second overall pick in April, could be moorings to a foundering franchise. Giants Coach Joe Judge and his quarterback, Daniel Jones, enter their second year together, with any improvement bound to make an impact in the N.F.C. East, the division run by a seven-win team last season.“Quarterbacks and coaches are important to both teams,” said Steve Gera, who worked in the front office of the Browns and Chargers for 10 years and who now runs a sports performance company. “And both teams seem to have the quarterback they need, and I say that knowing that rookie quarterbacks can go in either direction.”The same could be said for veteran Jets quarterbacks. The team has cycled through quarterbacks for years, with Mark Sanchez, Geno Smith and Sam Darnold among the would-have-been saviors. But Mike Tannenbaum, the Jets’ general manager in 2010, when they last made the postseason, said Wilson is very comfortable with new receivers and a new playbook, ahead of the curve for a rookie.Tannenbaum also called Elijah Moore, a wide receiver from Ole Miss whom the Jets drafted in the second round, “intriguing” because he is fast, has good hands and can be a deep threat or catch passes over the middle of the field. Moore will join the newly acquired receivers Keelan Cole Sr. and Corey Davis, as well as Jamison Crowder, the team’s leading receiver in each of the past two seasons.Daniel Jones threw only one more touchdown pass than interception in 2020 but will have more options this season.Noah K. Murray/Associated PressSaleh, the charismatic former defensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers, should provide a jolt after two dim years under Adam Gase. But Tannenbaum warned that Saleh should be ready for his “welcome to New York moment,” that day when something goes disastrously wrong and the news media and fans start to criticize his leadership.“Hopefully for him, it’ll come later than sooner,” said Tannenbaum, who now works for ESPN. “I felt like I was on a honeymoon for 8 to 10 minutes. I was born and bred here, but it’s not for everybody.”On Sunday, Saleh and the Jets will start their attempt to not finish in last place, facing the Panthers in North Carolina. Despite the organizational changes, the biggest roadblock to changing their standing is sharing the A.F.C. East with the Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots. That’s why Frank Tummino, a lifelong Jets fan, said he can get only so excited. Every September, he gets his hopes up, only to have them dashed by December (or earlier). In a sign of what amounts for optimism in Jets Nation, he expects his team to win six games.“We’re self-deprecating fans,” Tummino, 57, said. “I don’t expect a huge turnaround. I’m just looking for improvement.”The Giants have had a less linear approach to climbing out of their doldrums. After starting the 2020 season on a five-game losing streak, during which running back Saquon Barkley tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, they won five of their next seven to somersault into contention. That was before bumbling away a playoff berth down the stretch. Jones, in particular, took a step backward in his second year as a pro without a true No. 1 receiver and while missing an elite rushing threat.In his pursuit of a contract extension this season, Jones will have more options. The Giants signed the former Lions receiver Kenny Golladay, who led the league in receiving touchdowns in 2019, and drafted wide receiver Kadarius Toney. The Giants also signed Kyle Rudolph to platoon with Evan Engram at tight end.With so many areas for improvement, the question remains what benchmarks the Giants will be using to gauge his progress.“I’ll be curious what the team’s definition of ‘blossom’ is going to be,” Gera said. Will the Giants need to return to the playoffs for faith in Jones to be justified?Beyond the Dallas Cowboys, who return their Pro Bowl quarterback Dak Prescott from a gruesome leg injury, the rest of the N.F.C. East teams have enough question marks to make Jones’s and the Giants’ seem quaint in comparison. More

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      Joe Walton’s Jets Could Have Been the Best Team in the N.F.L.

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      The former Jets Coach Joe Walton has a stadium named after him, but not in the New York area. A sportswriter recalls the coach’s up-and-down pro tenure and how he found glory, and peace, elsewhere.Joe Walton, who died on Sunday at age 85, presided over what I think of as “The Jets Era That Never Was.”He led the team from 1983 through 1989. There were moments when they looked like pro football’s best team. And there were the doldrums when fans bellowed “Joe Must Go!”In some ways, I believe, his career is a cautionary sports tale, an arc of an American dream.He was from Beaver Falls, Pa. — yes, the same town as Joe Namath. And he starred at the University of Pittsburgh as a receiver-tight end, a position he played after turning pro.Walton wasn’t very big but he worked extremely hard. And he was smart, not just in knowing the game. He joined the Jets in 1981 as the offensive coordinator under Coach Walt Michaels. The team had been in a constant struggle to get back to its one shining moment — when it won Super Bowl III at the end of the 1968 season as an 18-point underdog. Since then, the club had often struggled, its low points magnified because it played in the media epicenter that is New York. Not one coach had left it having a winning career record.Walton joined a team that had sunk to a 4-12 record in 1980. But he instituted an intricate offensive system, and his quarterback, Richard Todd, his running back, Freeman McNeil, and one of his wide receivers, Wesley Walker, generated terrific seasons.The defense roared through opponents, its defensive line anointed with the title “the New York Sack Exchange” — Joe Klecko, Mark Gastineau, Marty Lyons, Abdul Salaam. The Jets went 10-5-1.They got national attention and Gastineau later became a media celebrity because of his romance with the actress Brigitte Nielsen. The team even went to the American Conference championship the following year in a strike-shortened season, losing to the Miami Dolphins.But Michaels was fired by management after he went into a frenzied tirade on the charter flight home after dropping that game in Miami. He claimed that the Dolphins, the home team, had deliberately kept the field wet during a rainstorm to keep the Jets’ vaunted running game from taking hold.And so, Joe Walton took over in 1983 as head coach. His workouts were strenuous and I noticed the players trudged off the field as if they’d just played a game. Just before the season opened, I learned that one of his key players, cornerback Jerry Holmes, was going to jump to the newly formed United States Football League.I had Walton’s home number. I had called him there several times. Back then, most reporters had the head coach’s home number. But this was late at night — actually, midnight. When he heard my voice and question, he said, “Jerry, I’m going to do two things — I’m going to hang up, and in the morning, I’m going to change my telephone number.” The next day at Jets practice, I greeted Elsie Cohen, Walton’s secretary, and asked, “What’s new?”“Very strange,” she said. “The first thing Joe told me this morning was to have his home phone number changed.”Years later, when I was writing a book about the Jets’ (mostly) failures, “Gang Green,” I called Walton and asked him about that call.“When you’re a head coach,” he explained, “you’ve got a lot of different pressures. There’s not only the pressure to win, but the pressure to keep a team together and you have to deal with more than 40 guys and a whole staff.”Walton’s first two years as Jets head coach produced 7-9 records, but then the club roared back with a pair of winning seasons. They were up and down after that and then went into the 1989 campaign.When teams lose, often the head coach is blamed for doing the same things he did when it was winning. In Walton’s case, it was his obsession with perfection, for workouts that often dragged the players down, spent by the time the real game was starting. Injuries piled upon injuries.Walton was wistful when he spoke about 1989. “I still would have had a winning record if it wasn’t for that last year.”That last year was 1989, when the Jets went 4-12. It was over for Walton. But he eventually wound up at Robert Morris University, outside of Pittsburgh, where he created their football program and enjoyed a 20-year career. He was so popular there that the school named its stadium for him. Walton remains a legend there, not the least reason being that in Robert Morris’s first football year of 1994, he took the team, composed of freshmen, to a 7-1-1 record.I spoke to him during his college tenure and about fame and winning. There are some cities in which nothing less than a championship will do. He considered that thought from his small-town college home.“If you stay around long enough and you don’t win the Super Bowl, you get fired,” he said. “And sometimes when you win the Super Bowl you get fired.”At Robert Morris University, Joe didn’t have worry. He could be himself. I often wondered how his Jets tenure might have ended if he had permitted himself that luxury. More

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      Cleveland Browns G.M. Talks the ‘Thrill’ of Turning the Team Around

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      Andrew Berry became the N.F.L.’s youngest-ever general manager at 32 last year. But his challenge is as old as the sport itself: finding a way to win.For most of the last two decades, the Cleveland Browns exemplified what it meant to be an N.F.L. bottom feeder.Between 2001 and 2019, the Browns enjoyed only two winning seasons and one playoff berth behind a rotating cast of starting quarterbacks, coaches and front-office executives. Fans attended games wearing paper bags over their heads in disgrace.But that changed last season under the direction of Andrew Berry, who at 32 became the N.F.L.’s youngest-ever general manager in January 2020.Berry’s smart free-agency signings and roster management helped vault the Browns into the playoffs, turning him into a rising star among his peers. Now, in Berry’s second season, the Browns are viewed as contenders in the A.F.C., an expectation the organization has not felt in years.He talked with The New York Times about how he approaches his job and the key to a strong relationship between quarterback Baker Mayfield and receiver Odell Beckham Jr.The interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.You accepted the job just before the pandemic hit. How was it in the early days to manage your staff and get things rolling?Honestly, I think to some degree, the fact that we were a new football operations group may have played into our favor a little bit. We were largely still determining our processes and really how we would kind of build that out through the spring and summer. So I think having a little bit of a blank-slate approach allowed us to be pretty flexible and adaptable.How did the leadership try to change the culture away from the losing reputation that the Browns have historically had?I think the biggest thing was just having a narrow focus. We can’t control the outside narrative, but what we can control and focus on is how we work and how we improve on a daily basis. That really has been [Coach Kevin Stefanski’s] mind-set and our players’ mind-set from the beginning. And I think having that narrow focus was helpful because, you’re right, there is a lot of history around the organization that people like to bring up. But at the end of the day, I don’t know that that’s totally relevant to our guys.Cleveland played Kansas City in a divisional-round playoff game last season, just its second playoff berth this century.Charlie Riedel/Associated PressWhy do you think you’ve been successful in landing free agents, considering that Cleveland isn’t necessarily a top destination city like Los Angeles, New York or Miami?Usually, the two most attractive levers for free agents in most professional sports, I think, are having an opportunity to contribute to a winner, and then obviously the financial component. These guys are professionals. They want to win, and they want to be able to support their families in a very meaningful way.What does a typical day look like for you during the regular season?It varies a little bit, but I’m up at 5:40 a.m. every morning. I go to a CrossFit class in the morning before going to the office. And then every morning, I have my daily briefing with our player personnel coordinator, and then we’re really off to the races dealing with various team or roster-related issues until practice in the afternoon. Then, I usually try to get home anywhere between 6:30 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. to put my kids to sleep. I think both the challenging and fun part of the job is the fact that there is a lot of variety on both a weekly and daily basis. No two days are the same, but that’s also the thrill of a position.“Being able to be flexible and adaptable and really kind of take things as they come — that was actually probably one of my biggest learnings over the course of the first year,” Berry said.Nick Cammett/Getty ImagesHow do you try to balance work with raising your young children?I just think it’s really prioritizing. At the end of the day, nothing will come before my family. In these jobs, to truly call it balance maybe isn’t necessarily the aiming point, but making sure that you prioritize the things that are really important in both phases. And also realizing that with the demands of family first and then a job that’s pretty much 24/7, it does mean sacrifices in other areas of leisure and hobbies, which is fine. But raising a family is probably the most rewarding experience of my life. And then, being a general manager for an N.F.L. team is right up there.You’re the youngest general manager in N.F.L. history, and only four of your peers in the league are Black. Do you feel any added pressure?In terms of pressure, I don’t focus much on that. These jobs, they’re stressful, and there’s enough things to deal with without putting an additional stress or pressure on yourself. I just try to be myself. I guess, in terms of the idea of diversity. I think that, by and large, if you have people from different backgrounds and, probably even just as importantly, different experiences in different ways of thinking, I think it enhances the league. It’s good because then you see different — and sometimes better and more creative — solutions to solving different problems, and in the general manager’s case, it’s putting together a team.Many people say the way to bring more diverse candidates is to give them more exposure and opportunities. How have you seen that play out in your career?I do think it’s exposure to different decision makers. I feel very fortunate that I had a number of my bosses throughout my career, whether it was [former General Manager] Ryan Grigson in Indianapolis that gave me exposure to the ownership group in Indianapolis or [Eagles General Manager] Howie Roseman in Philly who gave me exposure to the ownership group there. Or [former Browns General Manager] Sashi Brown, who really gave me exposure to the Haslam family here during my first go-round. I think having people, whether it’s in the league office or within your current club, that are willing to be mentors for your career and allow people who do or will make those hiring decisions gain familiarity with candidates, both on a personal and professional level — I think that can only enhance the process.You haven’t dealt with vaccine headlines like other teams have. What did you do to get players to either get comfortable to be vaccinated or to not be outspoken about their disapproval of it?I guess it’s really two things. I think No. 1, we did our best to educate not just our players, but everyone across the organization, in terms of the health and safety benefits of getting vaccinated, as well as the benefits that the league offers for vaccinated individuals versus nonvaccinated individuals. I think the second thing is, we also didn’t want it to be an issue that would divide our team. The spring and training camp, that’s supposed to be a unifying experience as a team, and as much as we realized that whether or not to get the vaccine can be politicized where people can have strong opinions on those sides, that’s not something that we wanted to tear our group apart. But we really did our best to try and educate as well as possible. And we started very, very, very early in the spring.Cleveland Browns defensive end Cameron Malveaux and offensive tackle Chris Hubbard wearing masks in November 2020.Phelan M. Ebenhack/Associated PressQuarterback Baker Mayfield and wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. didn’t seem to be as efficient as people expected last season before Beckham got hurt. Do you expect that they’ll improve this season now that Beckham is healthy?I think they already have a very good rapport. I think part of the challenge last year is you’re putting in a whole new system with a number of different individuals. I think our passing game in general really took off probably around the midpoint of the season. I think just part of that is just time on task, right? Where guys are getting to the point where they truly understand the offense, and it’s a lot more instinctive in terms of how they operate with them. You work with the offensive scheme, as opposed to them having to think about the concept or think about how they’re going to execute it. And I think that comes with a little bit more natural synergy, and unfortunately, we didn’t have Odell for that stretch. But we feel really good about Baker’s rapport with him, as well as all of our other receivers.How does Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen’s contract extension affect your negotiations with Mayfield’s representation on a new deal?I really don’t talk about contracts or personal situations, but we’re aware of all the contracts across all positional markets and how they may affect a certain situation and how that applies to any of our individual players.What’s the biggest thing you learned on the job in your first year that will prepare you going forward?I don’t know that I truly know that much more on what to expect. But I actually think that’s been the biggest thing. I think that the amount of unexpected things that come up over the course of the year and, particularly, crisis management or making decisions in an uncertain environment is huge. I think the biggest thing is maintaining a greater level of flexibility. You can try and plan out the weeks, the months, the days or different situations, but no two days are alike. Being able to be flexible and adaptable and really kind of take things as they come — that was actually probably one of my biggest learnings over the course of the first year and really having the mind-set of really just being a problem-solver every day. More

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      Greg Knapp, a Jets Assistant Coach, Dies at 58

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      Knapp, the team’s new passing-game specialist, was hit by a car while biking over the weekend and never regained consciousness, his family said.Greg Knapp, the Jets’ passing-game specialist, died on Thursday from injuries he sustained while being struck by a car as he rode a bicycle in California last weekend. He was 58.In a statement released through the Jets on Thursday afternoon, Knapp’s family said he was immediately rendered unconscious.“Greg never regained consciousness,” his family said. “He was surrounded by his mom, his wife, his three daughters and his brother.”Knapp, a California native, joined the staff of Robert Saleh, who is in his first year as the Jets’ head coach, in January after spending the last three seasons with the Atlanta Falcons as a quarterbacks coach. He had been an offensive coordinator in Atlanta from 2004 to 2006.“Greg had such an inner peace about him that people always seemed to gravitate towards,” Saleh said in a statement on Twitter, adding, “In his short time here, I believe the people in this organization had a chance to experience that connection.”During his short time with the Jets, Knapp, who was also known as Knapper, had been preparing the team’s young quarterbacks, including Zach Wilson, the No. 2 pick in the 2021 draft, for the coming season.At last month’s minicamp, Knapp told reporters that he had been enjoying coaching the young quarterback group, which also includes the second-year player James Morgan and the third-year player Mike White, neither of whom has played in an N.F.L. game.“As I’ve gotten older, I can say, here, from my experiences, I can tell you this because I’ve got enough trial and error on it,” said Knapp, who has coached veteran quarterbacks like Peyton Manning, Michael Vick, Matt Ryan and Steve Young. “And they’re getting it, they’re learning. It’s pretty exciting and it’s invigorating for me.”Knapp spent the first nine years of his coaching career at Sacramento State, where he had played quarterback. He was entering his 26th year coaching in the N.F.L. Knapp began with the San Francisco 49ers in the 1990s and eventually was promoted to quarterbacks coach and then to offensive coordinator in 2001.In addition to two stints in Atlanta, Knapp made stops in Seattle, Denver, Oakland and Houston either as an offensive coordinator or a quarterbacks coach.He was the Broncos’ quarterbacks coach when Manning threw for 5,477 yards and 55 touchdowns during the 2013 season, both league records at the time, and in the 2015 season when Manning led the team to a Super Bowl win.Arthur Blank, the Falcons’ owner, was one of many of Knapp’s former colleagues who posted their condolences on social media on Thursday. In a statement on Twitter, Blank said that Knapp was a “wonderful person who had the love, admiration and respect” of everyone he worked with.“Greg’s infectious personality is most people’s first and lasting memory of him,” Knapp’s family said. “The phrase ‘He never met a stranger’ encapsulates Knapper’s zest for life. He had a unique gift to make everyone feel special, and to Knapper, they all were.” More

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      Even Pro Golfers Have Turned to Remote Learning

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      With coaches and players forced to keep their distance because of the pandemic, perfecting the golf swing went virtual.It has been well over a year since Lucas Herbert, the Australian golfer who won the Irish Open last week and is playing in this week’s Scottish Open, hit balls in front of his swing coach, Dominic Azzopardi. The coronavirus pandemic has been the reason for their separation, but it has not stopped the work they do. More

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      Terry Donahue, Who Led U.C.L.A. to Bowl Victories, Dies at 77

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      Over 20 years, he had more wins than any football coach in the school’s history, including seven consecutive bowl championships.Terry Donahue, who became the face of football at U.C.L.A. as a player and coach, staying in the latter position for 20 years and leading the school to seven consecutive bowl-winning seasons in the 1980s, died on Sunday at his home in Newport Beach, Calif. He was 77.The cause was cancer, U.C.L.A. said.Donahue won more games than any other coach in the school’s and the Pac-12 Conference’s history, and he ended his career with a winning record against each of the conference’s teams, including the Bruins’ crosstown rival, the University of Southern California Trojans.Overall, he won 151 of the 233 games he coached, and 98 of those victories were in the Pac-10 (as the conference was known before adding two teams in 2011). His eighth and final win in a bowl came in the 1991 John Hancock Bowl.Donahue’s streak of bowl victories included Rose Bowl wins in ’83, ’84 and ’86. He was the first person to appear in the Rose Bowl as a player, an assistant coach and a coach.On the field, Donahue played in 1966 in U.C.L.A.’s first Rose Bowl victory. The team earned the nickname “Gutty Little Bruins” because nobody on the defensive line weighed more than 225 pounds. Donahue, a walk-on, weighed just 195 pounds.He brought the same overachieving spirit to his tenure as a coach. Some of U.C.L.A.’s best players in the Donahue era, like the future Hall of Famer Jonathan Ogden, came from regions far from California. The famed quarterback Troy Aikman transferred to U.C.L.A. from another college football program.Donahue talking to his quarterback John Barnes in 1992.Otto Greule Jr/Allsport, via Getty ImagesIn an article last year about how Donahue’s successors have not measured up to the standard he set, The Los Angeles Times attributed Donahue’s success to his being “a pioneer in national recruiting,” in part by having a scout “scour the country for talent.” N.F.L. teams chose 14 players from the Donahue era in the first round of professional drafts.In a 2011 interview with The Los Angeles Times, he discussed the level of commitment required to discover and woo young quarterbacks. “You need money, access to an aircraft if possible,” he said. “I went and got players from Ohio, New Jersey, New York, Hawaii, Texas, Oregon.”A news conference where Donahue announced his retirement in 1995 became a spectacle. The Los Angeles Times said that a U.C.L.A. spokesman prepared two news releases in case Donahue changed his mind. As he began to explain his decision, hundreds of reporters and friends “leaned forward at the same instant,” The Times reported.“I can’t believe I’m holding this press conference,” Donahue said. “What are you all doing here?”But he did retire. Twenty-five years later, The Times would write that the U.C.L.A. football program had been “tormented” since Donahue’s departure.Terrence Michael Donahue was born on June 24, 1944, in Los Angeles to Betty (Gantner) Donahue and Bill Donahue, a physician.He was a starting linebacker at his high school in the Sherman Oaks section of Los Angeles, but he struggled to establish himself in college, failing to gain a steady position at San Jose State and Los Angeles Valley College before getting a tryout at U.C.L.A. in 1964. He was taken on as a reserve lineman and worked his way up to starter.“Terry didn’t have a lot of ability, but he had a lot of character, high intelligence and seldom made a mistake,” Jerry Long, a former U.C.L.A. line coach, said.Donahue graduated from U.C.L.A. in 1967 with a bachelor’s degree in history. He also earned a master’s from the university in kinesiology in 1977.Donahue in 2013. He struggled to accept his own decision to retire as U.C.L.A.’s coach. “I can’t believe I’m holding this press conference,” he said during the announcement. “What are you all doing here?”Stephen Dunn/Getty ImagesHe got his start as a coach by asking a former mentor, Pepper Rodgers, to take him on as an unpaid assistant for the University of Kansas Jayhawks. When Rodgers became head coach at U.C.L.A., Donahue followed him. Rodgers’s successor, Dick Vermeil, left to coach the Philadelphia Eagles in 1976, and Donahue took over, even though he was in his early 30s.After leaving U.C.L.A., he worked in the front office of the San Francisco 49ers from 1999 to 2005.Donahue’s survivors include his wife of 52 years, Andrea (Sogas) Donahue; three daughters, Nicole, Michele and Jennifer; and 10 grandchildren.In 1976, Donahue’s first season coaching U.C.L.A., the Bruins went 9-2-1. An article in Sports Illustrated said he “may be the best young coach in the country.” Known to be relaxed and well tanned, Donahue was asked if he ever felt nervous.“We’re prepared and we’ve worked hard, so there’s nothing to worry about,” he told Sports Illustrated. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go throw up.” More

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      Blazers’ Billups Hire Draws Attention to Sexual Assault Accusation

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      Chauncey Billups was announced as Portland’s head coach on Tuesday as a team executive dodged and deflected questions about a 1997 sexual assault accusation against Billups.At a news conference on Tuesday, the top basketball executive for the Portland Trail Blazers dodged or deflected questions about a 1997 sexual assault accusation against Chauncey Billups, whom he was announcing as the team’s new head coach. A public relations official for Portland cut off a questioner entirely, and the executive, Neil Olshey, would not elaborate on an independent investigation into the incident he said the team had commissioned.Billups’s hire has elicited criticism both from within and outside Portland’s fan base because of the accusation, which was made during Billups’s 1997-98 rookie season as a player with the Boston Celtics.Olshey, the Blazers’ president of basketball operations, introduced Billups on Tuesday and said that he had “been successful at everything he’s done in his life, on and off the court.”He also said that the Blazers “took the allegations very seriously” and that “other N.B.A. organizations, business partners, television networks, regional networks have all enthusiastically in the past and present offered Chauncey high-profile positions within their organizations.” Billups is currently finishing his first season as an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Clippers, who are in the Western Conference finals, and he was previously an analyst for ESPN.Olshey said the team-initiated investigation was done with Billups’s support. “The findings of that incident corroborated Chauncey’s recollection of the events that nothing non-consensual happened,” he said. “We stand by Chauncey. Everyone in the organization.”Neil Olshey, right, Portland’s president of basketball operations, said the team commissioned an independent investigation of the sexual assault accusation against Billups, left.Craig Mitchelldyer/Associated PressWhen asked by a reporter to give more details on the investigation, Olshey declined.“So that’s proprietary, Sean,” Olshey said, referring to the N.B.A. reporter Sean Highkin. “So you’re just going to have to take our word that we hired an experienced firm that ran an investigation that gave us the results we’ve already discussed.”Jason Quick, a reporter for The Athletic, followed up later to ask Billups about the impact the incident had on him, after Billups had said that “not a day that goes by that I don’t think about how every decision that we make could have a profound impact on a person’s life.” Olshey took a sip of bottled water and appeared to glance at a public relations official for the organization, who then cut off Quick, though Billups appeared willing to respond.“Jason, we appreciate your question,” the official said. “We’ve addressed this. It’s been asked and answered. Happy to move on to the next question here.”The 1997 accusation came from a woman who said in a lawsuit that on the night of Nov. 9, following an evening at a Boston comedy club, she was raped by Billups, Ron Mercer and Michael Irvin — who is of no relation to the former N.F.L. player — at Antoine Walker’s home. Walker and Mercer were Billups’s teammates in Boston, while Irvin was Walker’s roommate. No criminal charges were filed. Billups and Mercer settled with the woman for an undisclosed amount in 2000, and Walker also settled a lawsuit with the woman soon after. Billups denied any nonconsensual contact, but said he had sex with her.The lawsuit did not affect Billups’s career prospects. It rarely came up, if at all. He played 17 years in the N.B.A., made five All-Star teams and won the N.B.A. finals Most Valuable Player Award in 2004.“I learned at a very young age as a player, and not only a player, but a young man, a young adult that every decision has consequences,” Billups said on Tuesday, in addressing the accusation, “and that’s led to some really, really healthy but tough conversations that I’ve had to have with my wife, who was my girlfriend at the time in 1997, and my daughters about what actually happened and about what they may have to read about me in the news.”Damian Lillard, Portland’s star guard, publicly lobbied for the team to hire Jason Kidd as its coach and spoke highly of Billups. He has since said he did not know about the accusation against Billups.Troy Wayrynen/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThe hiring of Billups immediately spurred a backlash, with the Trail Blazers being accused of glossing over the assault accusation at the expense of more experienced candidates like Becky Hammon, the seven-year San Antonio Spurs assistant who was a finalist for the job. Olshey said more than 20 candidates were considered for the role. Billups’s only coaching experience is this season with the Clippers.The Billups hiring also has brought criticism on the franchise’s biggest star, Damian Lillard, who spoke glowingly about Billups and publicly lobbied for the team to hire the former point guard Jason Kidd, who was recently hired as the coach of the Dallas Mavericks after working this season as an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Lakers. In 2001, Kidd pleaded guilty to spousal abuse against his then-wife, Joumana Kidd.On Twitter, Lillard addressed some of the criticism for supporting Kidd and Billups, saying: “Really? I was asked what coaches I like of the names I ‘heard’ and I named them. Sorry I wasn’t aware of their history I didn’t read the news when I was 7-8 yrs old. I don’t support Those things … but if this the route y’all wana come at me… say less.”At the news conference, Olshey said that Lillard had been “involved in the process” for hiring a new coach and that he attended some of the video conference interviews. According to Olshey, Lillard also spoke to Billups directly before the hire.“We have different sectors in this organization,” Olshey said. “And, you know, Dame represents the player sector, and we took his input in the process. We value it. It’s important to us to kind of know where he stands. But at the end of the day, this is an organizational decision and the organization believes that Chauncey is the best person to be our head coach.” More

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      Teenage Ballers Can Cash in Earlier Than Ever. But at What Cost?

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      Male players as young as 16 have many options to play high-level basketball before the N.B.A. without going to college — and get paid big money to do it.In February, Ramses Melendez, who goes by RJ, announced his college decision in a video posted to his social media accounts. A 4-star forward in the class of 2021, Melendez followed a typical formula for the video: a highlight reel and then a jersey reveal. He strayed from the script for a moment, though, when he acknowledged in a voice-over that “it wasn’t easy to make this decision.”A couple of months later, an unusual phone call made that decision even more difficult.On the other end of the line was Timothy Fuller, a former college basketball coach and the director of recruiting for a new league, Overtime Elite. Backed by investors ranging from the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to the Nets All-Star forward Kevin Durant, Overtime Elite aims to be an alternative to college as a path to the N.B.A. for high-level high school basketball players as young as 16.Fuller had seen Melendez play, and he wanted to offer him a spot in the nascent league. Fuller told Melendez that Overtime would help him prepare for the pros. Fuller also told Melendez that, unlike college, the league could pay him.A lot.Melendez declined to reveal a dollar figure during a recent interview at Rucker Park in New York City, where he was preparing to play in the Omni Elite tournament. But he did say that it was in line with Overtime’s other announced deals.In May, Overtime signed Matt and Ryan Bewley, twin brothers in Florida who are rising high school juniors, to two-year deals reportedly worth at least $1 million apiece. The league has since signed another set of Florida basketball twins for an undisclosed sum, and its leaders have said that it will eventually acquire 30 players who are each making a minimum annual salary of $100,000.“The money was nice, but it wasn’t the most important factor in my decision,” Melendez said. “I want my next step to get me ready to play in the N.B.A. I asked myself: What’s the best way to get there?”This year’s N.B.A. draft, whose order was announced last week with Detroit landing the top pick, isn’t likely to feature any players from the newest alternative paths when it takes place on July 29. But the 2022 draft will be a different story, and players and coaches from middle school to college have taken notice — and taken action.For top-flight high school basketball players, recruiting has often been a high-wire walk without much of a safety net. These teenagers have to discern the trustworthiness of college coaches who text and call them relentlessly, promising playing time and a sure path to the pros. And they have to be wary of boosters and agents and other unscrupulous characters who often offer money and benefits that run afoul of N.C.A.A. rules and the law.Now the best men’s players also have to decide whether it’s worth it to forfeit their college eligibility by turning pro during or immediately after high school.Because of the N.B.A.’s so-called one-and-done rule, American players must be 19 years old and one year removed from their high school graduating class to be eligible to be drafted. But no rule says they must attend college during that year. These new leagues are hoping to lure top players away from the N.C.A.A. with something colleges can’t match: a salary.In addition to Overtime Elite, there is also the N.B.A.’s own elite developmental team, the G League Ignite, which pays top players far and above the salaries for the G League’s regular teams. There is the Professional Collegiate League, which is backed by former Obama administration officials and aims to place 96 players on eight teams this fall. Those players will be compensated up to $150,000 each and receive a lifetime academic scholarship.And there are also overseas professional leagues, from Australia to Europe to China, pursuing American high school stars.“Before it was just, ‘What college am I going to?’” said Samson Johnson, a center from New Jersey who has committed to play for Connecticut in 2021-22. “Now there’s a lot of leagues, and it’s hard to keep up with all this new information. How can you be sure what’s real? It’s risky.”Among top prospects, the G League Ignite team has become the most attractive alternative to college. The G League enjoys the N.B.A.’s backing, and it also has proved it can develop N.B.A. draft prospects.Last year, the Ignite team inked the 5-star guard Jalen Green to a $500,000 contract. Despite playing a shortened season because of the coronavirus pandemic, Green is still considered a top-five pick for this year’s N.B.A. draft in July.Seeing other players succeed in the G League was part of the reason Scoot Henderson decided to graduate from high school early and sign a two-year, $1 million deal with the Ignite.“I wanted to be myself, and I wanted to own myself,” Scoot Henderson said. “With the G League, I get to play at a high level every night.”Lynsey Weatherspoon for The New York TimesHenderson had garnered interest from a professional league in China, from Overtime and from just about every college basketball powerhouse in the country.His decision came down to college or the Ignite team, which offered money, competition and the opportunity to sign endorsements. Despite some scattered progress on names, images and likeness reforms, it remains unclear whether N.C.A.A. athletes will be able to sign endorsement deals this year.“I wanted to be myself, and I wanted to own myself,” Henderson said. “With the G League, I get to play at a high level every night. I can also run camps and sign autographs and sponsor products.”Henderson had an added benefit while weighing his options. His A.A.U. coach, Parrish Johnson, is a longtime friend of Ignite Coach Brian Shaw.But not every elite high school player is so lucky. The N.C.A.A. doesn’t allow high school players to have contacts with agents, so they have to rely on the advice of coaches and family members who are not often familiar with the nuances of professional athletic contracts.Darrell Miller’s son, Brandon, is a top-15 prospect in the class of 2022. Whenever Darrell learns about a new league, he pulls out his laptop and starts Googling. Sometimes he’ll find himself with a dozen tabs open as they’re waiting at the airport for a flight to another A.A.U. tournament.“The scary part is: You just don’t know,” he said. “These are start-ups. They look really nice. They have the coaches. They have the board members. But then you get this feeling: What if? What if that check doesn’t clear? What if my son’s stock drops? If you’re a professional athlete, you’re not allowed to make the same mistakes you can as a college kid. If you choose the wrong college, you can transfer. If you choose the wrong pro league, what’s your backup plan?”Some high school and A.A.U. coaches, who are often players’ closest confidants, are also uncomfortable with their roles.“Your biggest nightmare as a coach is to push a kid in a certain direction and have it not work out,” said Vonzell Thomas, who coaches the A.A.U. team Southern Assault. “Then for the rest of that kid’s life, whenever he thinks of you, he’ll think: That’s the guy who screwed up my life. You never want your name to come up when a kid gets asked why he didn’t make it.”Melendez discussed the Overtime offer with his parents and coaches. They looked at the contract together. Ultimately, he decided to turn the league down and stick with his decision to play at Illinois. It felt, for now, like the safer decision.“I said no because I’ve heard some N.B.A. players talk about how they regret not playing in college,” he said. “I don’t want to find myself in that situation. I didn’t want to wake up next year and feel like I’d made a big mistake. These leagues may turn out to be great opportunities, but I want to be able to see some history first. I want to make sure it works. These decisions change your entire life.” More