Old North Banter Daily Links 6/4: Gerald McCoy, Lemonade, Ricky Rubio

Gerald McCoy explains why he picked the Panthers over the Ravens, Browns – Tim Weaver

"Here’s what McCoy had to say about his decision, per David Newton at ESPN.“Carolina was a great fit for me. Being around the guys we just meshed & I love the instant chemistry we had. They have a tradition of having a great defense. I love the players & I believe in #1. Ron Rivera is a proven coach & can’t wait to get started.”"

As I had hoped for in yesterday’s Daily Links, McCoy ended up signing a 1-year $8.5 million contract with the Carolina Panthers to bolster a defensive line that has been completely retooled this offseason.

McCoy is a great talent at Defensive Tackle and now joins Dontari Poe and Kawaan short at the position. I could absolutely see Ron Rivera rotating them and using multiple defensive fronts now that he has three-pro bowl players at the position.

As for what sealed the deal, the Charlotte Observer’s Jourdan Rodrigue provided a bit of insight to what went down during McCoy’s visit to Charlotte.

I really hope this turns into a similar sports food journalism we had when we all tried to find out what soup did J.R. Smith throw at Damon Jones type story.

I’m looking forward to seeing what this retooled defensive line with McCoy spearheading it will do, and so should the Carolina fanbase.

Hornets: Cody Zeller opens up a lemonade stand to keep Kemba Walker – Nate Scott

"Anyway, the rest of the Hornets are obviously keen on keeping their star guard, and center Cody Zeller is leading the charge — by opening up a lemonade stand and then posting an image of it to Instagram.The image shows Zeller selling lemonade at 25 cents a pop, with the goal of raising $221 million to pay for Kemba’s supermax contract."

Honestly, I love this story. This is about as wholesome as it gets in terms of fun stories the NBA produces during the offseason. If you need proof of all the wholesome, here’s a photo from Zeller’s Instagram account showcase his Lemonade stand.

Couple pieces of advice from a former world-class cub scout popcorn salesman:

1.  Go to where the people are at and are going to need to quench that thirst, like outside a gym or a pool area.
2.  If you are going to stay in what seems to be a very nice neighborhood, you can afford to bump up the price, maybe even go to $.50 per cup.

Should Zeller fall short of his goal and Kemba ends up leaving because the team can’t afford his SuperMax contract, they could go and get Ricky Rubio, who is by his account, is not going to be with the team moving forward, but will get to that later.

NCAA Baseball Regional Results at a Glance – Joe Healy, Teddy Cahill

"After three days of regionals action, 10 teams have advanced to super regionals. Six spots remain going into the final day. Here’s how it all stands going into Monday."

Following some dramatics during the last day of regionals, the Super Regional matchups are set. The North Carolina Tar Heels will host Auburn during their super regional while the Duke Blue Devils and East Carolina Pirates will travel to Nashville and Louisville respectively and attempt to advance to the College World Series against the Vanderbilt Commodores and Louisville Cardinals.

Duke has been a pleasant surprise, defeating Texas A&M twice in three days to advance to their second straight Super Regional, while East Carolina needed three straight wins following a day one loss to Quinnipiac to advance to its Super Regional.

The only North Carolina team that didn’t advance was the NC State Wolfpack, who had one of the more disappointing exits this season following a 29-2 start to the year.

It will be interesting going forward if all three teams can make it to the College World Series, especially since Duke and East Carolina have never been.

Report: Ricky Rubio says Jazz have told him he’s ‘not priority number one’ for them – Eric Walden

"In the Jazz’s season wrap-up with the media on the morning after they were eliminated from the playoffs by the Rockets, then-general manager Dennis Lindsey said there were a lot of scenarios in which he could see free agent point guard Ricky Rubio return to the team.In a recent interview with Catalunya Radio, Rubio was quoted as saying [in Catalan], “[Utah has] let me know that I am not priority number one. Then, we have to look for other options.”View image on Twitter"

Okay, time to take a dive into this Ricky Rubio story. As I mentioned before, Kemba could leave if the Hornets don’t give him all the money in the bank. So now is the time to start looking at viable fill-ins for the point-guard spot.

Rubio has been a solid point guard since he came into the league during the 2011-2012 season. While he has been good, however, his numbers became somewhat more focused on scoring when the Timberwolves traded him to the Utah Jazz in 2017.

Rubio went from averaging 8.5 assists per game in Minnesota to just under six per game. However, he became a more focused scorer in Utah, jumping from 10.3 points per game in Minnesota to 12.9 points per game in Utah.

While he couldn’t replace the scoring production that Kemba provides, he could return to more of a facilitator role and get more bodies involved in the offense.

2019 MLB Draft — Day One Pick Analysis – ESPN.com

"With Rounds 1 and 2 complete, the 2019 MLB draft continues with Rounds 3 to 10 on Tuesday and Rounds 11 to 40 on Wednesday.Adley Rutschman went first overall to the Baltimore Orioles on Monday, with the Kansas City Royals taking Bobby Witt Jr. second and Chicago White Sox choosing Andrew Vaughn at No. 3."

N.C. State shortstop Will Wilson was the first player taken off the board form the ACC, and found himself in a great situation, playing with Mike Trout and the Los Angeles Angels.

Elon Pitcher George Kirby made history by getting selected by the Mariners with the 20th overall pick: Kirby became the first Elon athlete, in any sport, to get drafted in the first round.

The most interesting pick was at 26 when the Arizona Diamondbacks selected LHP Blake Watson, an N.C. State commit. Watson is considered a top recruit, and will now have to choose between taking the money now or developing under Elliot Avent at N.C. State and potentially getting drafted higher in a few years.