Latest news with #Youngblood
USA Today
3 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
4 candidates who could grab OKC Thunder's 3rd two-way deal
As the NBA enters the slowest stretch of its calendar, the Oklahoma City Thunder will have a couple of more months to bask in their championship before shifting their focus to becoming a rare repeat winner. Being the second-youngest NBA champion, the Thunder will have the rare luxury of roster continuity. Everybody who was under contract for their historic 68-14 regular-season run is under contract for next season, too. Outside of some bottom depth chart movement, expect the same rotation. The one roster spot still left open is the third two-way spot. Brooks Barnhizer and Branden Carlson are signed to the other two spots, but one remain. After they completed the Summer League, plenty of possible candidates had their moments. Let's look at three candidates who could receive the Thunder's third two-way contract. The deal allows players to appear in 50 games and split time between the NBA and G League: Chris Youngblood Out of all the undrafted rookies, Youngblood stood out the most in the Summer League. The 23-year-old is a sharpshooter with a quick release. He gained more minutes in the rotation as the two-week event progressed. There's always a demand for shooters. He could get a shot because of it. Youngblood averaged 12.4 points in five Las Vegas games. He shot 52% from 3 on five attempts. Even though the sample is small, he was also a high-volume outside shooter at Alabama. He wasn't afraid to let it fly from deep in a variety of ways. Malevy Leons Familiarity might help Leons. After he went undrafted out of Bradley, he signed with the Thunder. He was a training camp invite last year and even earned an NBA deal for a brief moment before being waived. The 25-year-old spent most of the season in the G League. Leons spent most of the Summer League as a starter. He had his moments, especially on the defensive side. The 6-foot-9 forward has good physical tools but remains raw as a half-court player. Still, there's obviously some intrigue there from the Thunder as he enters his second year with the franchise. Viktor Lakhin A popular theory that circulated among Thunder fans was about Lakhin. He went undrafted out of Clemson. Some believe that happened because a torn foot tendon plummeted his draft stock after he received some second-round buzz. Lakhin had a career season at Clemson before the May injury. He averaged 11.4 points and 56.4 rebounds. Because of the injury, he didn't play in the Summer League. The Thunder knew that when they signed him. The speculation is that the only reason they'd do that was to ensure they'd sign him to a two-way deal. Remains to be seen how true that theory is. Payton Sandfort Everything said about Lakhin can be copied and pasted here. Two shoulder surgeries to fix torn labrums caused Sandfort to go undrafted out of Iowa. Nonetheless, the Thunder liked the upside enough to add him to their Summer League roster, knowing he wouldn't play. Considering Sandfort had surgery in April and May, don't expect him to be cleared for a while. November has been viewed as a target return. He was a sharpshooter in his four years at Iowa. He shot 34% from 3 on 7.5 attempts last season. You always need those types of players at any level. Let's see if it's enough to warrant a two-way spot before he's even suited up for the Thunder.
USA Today
12-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
How former Alabama basketball players performed in 2025 NBA Summer League debut
This past Thursday, the 2025 NBA Summer League officially began play out in Las Vegas, Nevada, with many former Alabama Crimson Tide basketball players among the names competing for NBA roster spots in the coming weeks. Among this group of former Alabama players, all four of the Crimson Tide's undrafted prospects from the 2025 NBA draft are in Las Vegas this week to showcase their talents for the first time at the professional level, while there are a few others from the program's past as well. There is also a former first round pick among this group who played in the first Summer League games, a player who has NBA experience. Here is a look at how every former Alabama player performed during their 2025 NBA Summer League debut across the last two days. Chris Youngblood, Guard - Oklahoma City Thunder Undrafted last month, Youngblood was among the biggest talking points Thursday afternoon from Oklahoma City's 90-81 win over the Nets, scoring 19 points with five rebounds on 7-of-10 shooting from the field, as well as 3-of-5 from three. Drawing the start, Youngblood went on to play 26 minutes where the guard had two steals with a +/- of +23, while also shooting 3-of-5 from three, as well as 2-of-3 at the free throw line. Grant Nelson, Forward - Brooklyn Nets On the other side of that 90-81 win from Oklahoma City over Brooklyn was Nelson, who came off the Nets bench to play 14 total minutes in his first game after going undrafted. Overall, Nelson had five points, two rebounds, and one assist on 2-of-4 shooting from the field, as well as 1-of-3 from three-point range. Mark Sears, Guard - Milwaukee Bucks Sears did not see action during his first game as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks during their 90-89 victory over the Orlando Magic. The next chance for Sears to make his Summer League debut will come Saturday as Milwaukee faces the Cleveland Cavaliers. Aaron Estrada, Guard - Memphis Grizzlies Estrada came off the bench for Memphis during the Grizzlies' 92-78 loss against the Boston Celtics, scoring eight points with a rebound across 16 minutes. The former Alabama guard also shot 4-of-6 from the field, while also 0-of-1 from three. Kira Lewis Jr., Guard - Miami Heat A former first round pick from the 2020 NBA draft, Lewis started for the Miami Heat during their 105-98 loss to the Atlanta Hawks, scoring four points on 1-of-6 shooting from the field with five rebounds and seven assists. Across 26 minutes, Lewis also shot 0-of-2 from three, as well as 2-of-2 at the free throw line. Clifford Omoruyi, Center - Toronto Raptors Omoruyi came off the Raptors bench in Toronto's 116-72 blowout victory over the Chicago Bulls, but played only five minutes. The former Alabama center had two points and one assist on 2-of-4 shooting from the free throw line. Jaden Shackelford, Guard - Golden State Warriors Shackelford came off Golden State's bench in the Warriors' 106-73 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, scoring nine points with two rebounds and one assist across 20 minutes. The former Alabama guard also shot 3-of-7 from the field, 2-of-6 from three, and 1-of-3 at the free throw line. Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion.
USA Today
03-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
7 Rams players named the best pick ever at their draft slot, including Puka Nacua
Nacua, Donald and Youngblood are all the best players ever picked at their respective draft slots The Rams have drafted some of the greatest players in NFL history, going all the way back to 1971 when they selected Jack Youngblood 20th overall. He went on to play his entire career in Los Angeles, earning five All-Pro selections, seven Pro Bowl nods and eventually being named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Youngblood is hardly the only legend picked by the Rams, of course. ESPN's recent exercise shows just how much success the franchise has had in the draft. NFL analyst Ben Solak highlighted the best player ever selected at each draft slot from No. 1 to 262 and seven Rams picks were mentioned. Among them were Aaron Donald (of course) and surprisingly, Puka Nacua. Nacua is only entering his third year in the NFL but Solak believes he's already the best player ever selected at No. 177 overall. 13. DT Aaron Donald (2014) 20. DE Jack Youngblood (1971) 113. DE Kevin Greene (1985) 141. OT Fred Miller (1996) 177. WR Puka Nacua (2023) 250. QB Ryan Fitzpatrick (2005) 251. LB Scott Shanle (2003) Donald would seem like an incredibly obvious pick as the best player at his draft slot but he had some competition from Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez, who was also selected 13th overall. Here's what Solak wrote about picking Donald over Gonzalez. Donald was actually not the slam dunk that I thought he would be here, as Tony Gonzalez -- owner of just about every career tight end production record you can think of -- put up a good fight. As it is, Donald played 10 seasons and made eight first-team All-Pros, which is about as dominant as dominant gets. His 20.5 sacks in 2018 remains a towering, almost unachievable figure for a defensive tackle. Youngblood also wasn't a slam dunk at No. 20 because legendary Broncos safety Steve Atwater was also selected at that spot. Solak says he 'flip-flopped on this one for a while,' going back and forth on Youngblood and Atwater. There were a couple of other former Rams also on the list, but they weren't selected by L.A./St. Louis. Andrew Whitworth got the nod at No. 55 overall, where he was picked by the Cincinnati Bengals out of LSU. And at No. 59, former Rams DB Aeneas Williams was Solak's selection, going with the former Cardinals draft pick as the obvious choice at that spot. Williams' 55 career picks has him in the top 20 of all time, and he made eight Pro Bowls -- seven as a corner and one as a safety, speaking to his versatility. He's the lone Hall of Famer here without much competition, so an easy selection for me. The Rams were well-represented on the list and rightfully so. Their draft history is as good as any franchise's and they could soon have some other all-time greats if Jared Verse, Kobie Turner and Nacua continue on their current trajectory. Follow Rams Wire on X, Facebook and Threads for more coverage!
Business Insider
11-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
A YouTuber challenged himself to make a grill scrubber entirely in the US. It costs $75 — and it immediately sold out.
A really nice grill brush will cost you about $25 at your local big box store, but YouTuber Destin Sandlin is betting he can get customers to shell out three times that amount for a Made-in-America version. Sandlin traces his passion for US manufacturing to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when he was bothered by the lack of American-made essential goods. "Everybody wanted N95 masks and face shields, and they couldn't get it," he said in a recent YouTube video. "This revealed to me how anemic our manufacturing capacity in America has become, because I was waiting on some billionaire to come save us, and it didn't happen." So began a yearslong deep dive into the challenges of making products in the US, which Sandlin documented for his series on YouTube called "Smarter Every Day." After working with John Youngblood, the owner of a local specialty grill accessories company, Sandlin got excited about the idea of developing a better scrubber. Sandlin and Youngblood wanted to produce it in the US with as many domestically sourced components as possible, and sell it at a retail price. In a video that went live Sunday and has since amassed more than 2 million views, Sandlin shares why he decided to get serious about US manufacturing, explains how he navigated the design process, and makes a sales pitch for viewers to buy it for themselves. On Tuesday, Youngblood told Business Insider the $75 scrubber has sold through its initial production run of several thousand units within a day, and his company is now taking pre-orders. "We're going to have a backlog for a while," Youngblood said. Most grill brushes are meant to be thrown away. This one isn't. Many lower-cost grill brushes aren't typically designed to last more than a year of use — grill-maker Weber recommends changing them after each grilling season. Another problem is that the bristles have been known to come off and can end up in grilled food. Sandlin and Youngblood found that welded chain mail — like the material of a medieval knight's armor — was highly effective at cleaning grill grates without breaking. There was one problem: "We could only find it in China." After a few tries, the team managed to find a US supplier who could make about 2,000 units a month and a supplier in India to augment the rest. Attaching the chain mail to a handle proved to be another adventure. Sandlin said the average one-inch industrial bolt costs around 9 cents when imported, but that jumps to 38 cents for versions made in the US. "Most machine shops I talked to directly, they said, 'Yeah, we can't even get the material for the price of the finished bolts that you're getting from a foreign supplier,'" Sandlin said. Then there was the process of making injection-molded parts to provide support and flexibility, which required machining custom tools and dies (the metal forms that shape a material) for shops to use in production. "This is the moment where this whole experiment came into focus for me," Sandlin said. "I realized at that moment we're screwed." American manufacturing has exported the smart part of making stuff The reason for Sandlin's pessimism is that many of the shops he spoke with send tool and die design files to China to be made and imported for use in US production lines. "I don't want my intellectual property in China, I want to make it here," he said. "And they said, 'Good luck.'" The problem illuminated by this episode goes far beyond a seemingly simple grilling accessory. "We're screwed as a nation if we can't do the intelligent work of tool and die: making the tools that make the things," Sandlin said. "We have flipped it. We are now to the point where the smart stuff is done somewhere else." Sandlin and Youngblood eventually found US suppliers for all of their custom components. They're working to get every piece sourced here. The video shows two instances where Sandlin was surprised by the apparent country of origin being different from what he says he was led to believe: The first batch of knobs arrived in packaging stating they were made in Costa Rica rather than the US. Several boxes of chain mail (ostensibly from India) had markings that suggested they were instead from China. "I'm shocked," Sandlin said. "It's pretty weird to set out to try to make a thing completely in America and to find out towards the end of the process that you made something in China anyways." Sandlin says he's not interested in having America be the dominant world player — he wants more opportunities for people here to have good jobs that allow them to take care of their communities. "If you are ever, ever in a position to make a decision about where your thing is manufactured, take a second and consider making a little less profit, maybe in order to invest in your local community," he said.
Business Insider
11-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
A YouTuber created a $75 grill scrubber to experience the challenges of making stuff in the US — and it sold out
A really nice grill brush will cost you about $25 at your local big box store, but YouTuber Dustin Sandlin is betting he can get customers to shell out three times that amount for a Made-in-America version. Sandlin traces his passion for US manufacturing to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, when he was bothered by the lack of American-made essential goods. "Everybody wanted N95 masks and face shields, and they couldn't get it," he said in a recent YouTube video. "This revealed to me how anemic our manufacturing capacity in America has become, because I was waiting on some billionaire to come save us, and it didn't happen." So began a yearslong deep dive into the challenges of making products in the US, which Sandlin documented for his series on YouTube called "Smarter Every Day." After working with John Youngblood, the owner of a local specialty grill accessories company, Sandlin got excited about the idea of developing a better scrubber. Sandlin and Youngblood wanted to produce it in the US with as many domestically sourced components as possible, and sell it at a retail price. In a video that went live Sunday and has since amassed more than 2 million views, Sandlin shares why he decided to get serious about US manufacturing, explains how he navigated the design process, and makes a sales pitch for viewers to buy it for themselves. On Tuesday, Youngblood told Business Insider the $75 scrubber has sold through its initial production run of several thousand units within a day, and his company is now taking pre-orders. "We're going to have a backlog for a while," Youngblood said. Most grill brushes are meant to be thrown away. This one isn't. Many lower-cost grill brushes aren't typically designed to last more than a year of use — grill-maker Weber recommends changing them after each grilling season. Another problem is that the bristles have been known to come off and can end up in grilled food. Sandlin and Youngblood found that welded chain mail — like the material of a medieval knight's armor — was highly effective at cleaning grill grates without breaking. There was one problem: "We could only find it in China." After a few tries, the team managed to find a US supplier who could make about 2,000 units a month and a supplier in India to augment the rest. Attaching the chain mail to a handle proved to be another adventure. Sandlin said the average one-inch industrial bolt costs around 9 cents when imported, but that jumps to 38 cents for versions made in the US. "Most machine shops I talked to directly, they said, 'Yeah, we can't even get the material for the price of the finished bolts that you're getting from a foreign supplier,'" Sandlin said. Then there was the process of making injection-molded parts to provide support and flexibility, which required machining custom tools and dies (the metal forms that shape a material) for shops to use in production. "This is the moment where this whole experiment came into focus for me," Sandlin said. "I realized at that moment we're screwed." American manufacturing has exported the smart part of making stuff The reason for Sandlin's pessimism is that many of the shops he spoke with send tool and die design files to China to be made and imported for use in US production lines. "I don't want my intellectual property in China, I want to make it here," he said. "And they said, 'Good luck.'" The problem illuminated by this episode goes far beyond a seemingly simple grilling accessory. "We're screwed as a nation if we can't do the intelligent work of tool and die: making the tools that make the things," Sandlin said. "We have flipped it. We are now to the point where the smart stuff is done somewhere else." Sandlin and Youngblood eventually found US suppliers for all of their custom components. They're working to get every piece sourced here. The video shows two instances where Sandlin was surprised by the apparent country of origin being different from what he says he was led to believe: The first batch of knobs arrived in packaging stating they were made in Costa Rica rather than the US. Several boxes of chain mail (ostensibly from India) had markings that suggested they were instead from China. "I'm shocked," Sandlin said. "It's pretty weird to set out to try to make a thing completely in America and to find out towards the end of the process that you made something in China anyways." Sandlin says he's not interested in having America be the dominant world player — he wants more opportunities for people here to have good jobs that allow them to take care of their communities. "If you are ever, ever in a position to make a decision about where your thing is manufactured, take a second and consider making a little less profit, maybe in order to invest in your local community," he said.
