Second Thoughts: Cavaliers, LeBron won’t be around long in NBA playoffs

The NFL draft is getting close, so we’ll have to endure only a few dozen more mock drafts that will tell us where Baker Mayfield will play next season. These predictions are annoying and barely informative, sort of like Skip Bayless.

The NBA playoffs are here, and like that obnoxious relative during the holidays, they will overstay their welcome. Sure, guys, take two days off between games. You work so hard and deserve a break so you can hit the clubs between games 3 and 4.

»RELATED: 5 things to know about NBA playoffs

Anyway, here’s my not-so-bold prediction: The Cavaliers will be finished before the snow melts in Minnesota, and LeBron James will pack his bags for another adventure. All the dysfunction this franchise has experienced the last few years has to catch up to it sometime, right? The Cavs meet the Pacers in the first round, with Game 1 today. Cleveland avoids defense like Mormons avoid casinos, and Victor Oladipo has an extra spring in his step. Pacers in 6.

Wonder if Chris Mack is having buyer's remorse. Players are fleeing Louisville's basketball program like someone pulled a fire alarm. Last week the Cards again were implicated in that FBI corruption case, which doesn't help recruiting. Mack built a great program at Xavier in a power hoops conference. He left it all behind to try to clean up Rick Pitino's mess. Sometimes the grass isn't always greener (in the Bluegrass).

Patrick Reed won the Masters last week, becoming the most unpopular golf champion since Shooter McGavin. Reed got booted from the University of Georgia for allegedly cheating, drinking too much and being an idiot. He hasn't talked to his parents in years. If Tiger Woods' comeback fizzles, Reed might me just what the PGA Tour needs: a villain.

Comcast is dropping the Big Ten Network in non-BIG markets, which means commish Jim Delany probably will try to make up the lost revenue by playing more football games on Friday nights. Don't get any ideas, Time Warner or Spectrum or whatever you're called. If you need save money, I have a whole list of cable channels you can jettison, starting with MTV.

The White Sox and Rays played in front of 974 fans last week in frigid Chicago. Paid attendance for the game at Guaranteed Rate Field – why can't they just call it Comiskey Park? – was a robust 10,377. It's tough to get excited about baseball in the Windy City in April. I recall going to a game at that park in July several years ago and freezing. It was about 60 degrees, windy and spitting rain. Just awful.

The Red Sox-Yankees brawl was fun, although I can't believe staring at a charging Aaron Judge would be on the top of a bullpen pitcher's bucket list. As always, I'm vigorously rooting against the Yankees this season, even if that means siding with the insufferable Red Sox Nation. Maybe the AL Central will rise up and play into late October.

Trending up: Jarvis Landry, Alonzo Gaffney, A'ja Wilson. The Browns gave Landry a five-year contract worth $75.5 million dollars. Is he worth it? Well, that's less than the Reds pay Homer Bailey, so maybe. Landry caught 112 passes as a slot receiver last year at Miami. He's reliable on the football field, which is a good starting point for the Browns.

Trending down: Jalen Collins, Reuben Foster, Isaac Haas. Collins, a cornerback with no team, reportedly has been suspended by the NFL for the first 10 games of the 2018 season (no reason given). It is the fourth suspension for the 2015 second-round pick, which means he has twice as many career suspensions as interceptions (two).


Knucklehead of the Week

Former Clemson football players C.J. Fuller and Jadar Johnson, both members of the 2016 national championship team, are facing charges of armed robbery after they allegedly forced their way into the apartment of a former teammate on March 28 and robbed the place while he was at practice. The Clemson player’s girlfriend was in the apartment when Fuller and Johnson allegedly showed up brandishing a gun. The woman told police that Fuller and Johnson threw her onto a bed before taking her phone and some cash. According to a police report, a parking enforcement officer saw the players get into a white Mercedes and drive away at about the same time the girlfriend was calling 911.

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