LAS VEGAS (AP) — After brushing off baseball inquiries during the first five seasons following his surprising decision to leave his longtime sport for the Cleveland Browns, Paul DePodesta couldn’t resist the challenge of turning the Colorado Rockies into a consistent winner.

“It had to be the right situation,” he said Tuesday, four days after he was hired as president of baseball operations. “And that right situation includes a challenge, ownership, geography, other things like people I might be able to work with. So this came about, and we started going through that calculus. This came about, and it’s very interesting.”

After time in front offices of the Oakland Athletics, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres and New York Mets, DePodesta became the Browns’ chief strategy officer in January 2016.

He takes over a team coming off a 119-loss season, that hasn’t had a winning record since 2018 and has never won the World Series. Its only National League pennant in 2007 was followed by a four-game Series loss to Boston.

DePodesta, who turns 53 next month, has to fill the last remaining manager vacancy. The Rockies are coming off a season in which they drew 2.4 million at home, down from 3 million in 2018.

“I think probably the most important thing for me is being a great relationship manager with the players,” DePodesta said at Major League Baseball's general managers meetings. “We're trying to build a culture in the clubhouse. Certainly, there are game strategy and other things that are important, but that manager relationship piece and being sort of a great teammate, too, with the rest of the organization, those things are equally valuable.”

DePodesta rose in the sport as among a new generation of analytics thinkers who would come to dominate the game. DePodesta was the inspiration for Jonah Hill's character in “Moneyball” about the 2002 A's that won 102 games and captured the AL West despite a small payroll.

The Dodgers hired DePodesta at age 31 in 2004 to be their GM, and he lasted just 20 months. After time with the Padres and Mets he moved to the NFL. Cleveland's record was 56-99-1 with DePodesta in the front office.

He signed a five-year contract with the Browns in 2020 and told ownership he didn't believe he would be there that long, that the pieces were in place for sustained winning. The Browns went 11-5 that season and made the playoffs, but they failed to build on that success and have had just one winning record since.

So DePodesta stayed longer than planned to try to get the organization heading in the right direction.

“Really, the last four years, I started thinking about what might be next,” DePodesta said.

DePodesta continued to follow baseball from afar.

“I have friends across all different front offices,” he said. “There are a handful I've kept in very good touch with over the past 10 years, and they would hit me up with things that were happening in the NFL. I always tried to keep abreast of what was happening, certainly not to the extent where I was working full time. But, yes, I was still interested.”

Avalanche rookie Gavin Brindley signs 2-year extension after scoring his 1st overtime winner

DENVER (AP) — Gavin Brindley was rewarded with a two-year contract extension less than 48 hours after scoring his first NHL overtime winner.

“Pretty funny how that works,” the Colorado Avalanche rookie forward cracked Tuesday before their game against Anaheim. "But yeah, very fortunate. Happy that they believed in me.”

Brindley's new deal will be worth $850,000 next season if he plays in the NHL and $900,000 no matter what level he suits up at in 2027-28, according to a person familiar with the move. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because terms were not disclosed.

The 5-foot-8, 173-pound Brindley was acquired by Colorado on June 27 as part of a deal that sent Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood to Columbus. Brindley made an immediate impression in Colorado's training camp with his persistence and grit, leading to a spot on the opening-day roster.

He has three goals this season, including the OT winner at Vancouver on Sunday when he knocked in his own rebound. The 21-year-old from Florida became the seventh-youngest player in franchise history to notch an OT-winning goal.

“I think he can be a top-six forward,” said Avalanche coach Jared Bednar, who currently has Brindley on the fourth line. “He plays bigger than his size. The motor, the relentlessness, the skill level, and the brain to go with it, is all there.”

His deal was still so new that even his linemate, Parker Kelly, hadn't heard about it. Once Brindley came off the ice following the morning skate, Kelly congratulated him.

“Super happy for him,” Kelly said. “He deserved it. He came into camp, did really well, made his presence known. He's been playing the right way and has great details to his game.”

A 2023 second-round pick by the Blue Jackets, Brindley signed an entry-level deal in April 2024 after playing for the University of Michigan. He made his NHL debut with the Blue Jackets on April 16, 2024, against Carolina.

Brindley spent last season with Columbus' AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters, where he had six goals and 11 assists in 52 games.

He's thrived in his role since the trade.

“Honestly, I really didn't know what to think,” Brindley said when asked if he viewed being dealt to Colorado as a fresh start. “A lot of different emotions. I feel like positives and negatives, getting traded that young, and going through it. I feel like it’s good to go through it early and experience that and experience the downs of last year. Just learn from it and get better and grow."

Ryan Kalkbrenner's historic NBA career start: 81% from the field through first 10 games

MIAMI (AP) — Ryan Kalkbrenner made the first shot of his NBA career. And the second. And the third. And the fourth. And the fifth.

Eventually, he missed. It did happen. It hasn't happened often.

The Charlotte rookie is now 10 games into his career and he's shooting 80.8% from the field — 42 for 52. Nobody in NBA history has taken that many shots and been that accurate over the first 10 games of a career.

The previous best, among those with at least 50 shots through their first 10 games in the NBA, was 72% by Houston's Yao Ming — going 36 for 50. Dallas' Dereck Lively opened his career at 70.6% through 10 games, 36 for 51.

“It’s just a credit to my teammates who let me get easy looks," Kalkbrenner said. "I mean, it's not my role to take tough shots, so of course I’m at a decent percentage, but my teammates do a really good job of finding me on dump-offs when I’m wide open and whatnot. So, I’m just glad I’m able to finish some of them.”

Some of them? Try darn near all of them. He started 5 for 5 from the field in his debut and hasn't slowed down much since.

“He’s got a great way about him," Hornets coach Charles Lee said. "His process is on point. He’s worried about trying to impact the game as best as he possibly can.”

On some level, this shouldn't come as a total surprise. Kalkbrenner didn't miss much in college, either.

He led the Big East in field-goal percentage in each of the last four years and was a few shots away from winning that title five times — he was second in the Big East in the first season of his five-season college career. He finished college shooting 65.8%; nobody else on the top-200 list in career men's Division I field goals topped that. Not Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, not Zach Edey, not David Robinson. Nobody.

Kalkbrenner had a 20-for-22 shooting game for Creighton against Texas-Rio Grande Valley last season. The only player in NCAA men’s Division I history with a better shooting game, while taking at least 20 shots, was Bill Walton’s 21-for-22 masterpiece for UCLA in the 1973 national championship game win over Memphis.

But this is the NBA, where the defenders are a lot bigger and the defenses are a lot better than what colleges can offer. Kalkbrenner hasn't been fazed.

Over a four-game stretch from Oct. 25 through Oct. 30, he went 21 for 22 from the field — eight makes, then a miss, then 13 consecutive makes. The lone miss in that span was a shot that got blocked by Washington's Alex Sarr. The combined distance of those 21 made shots was about 30 feet; almost all came at the rim.

“I think we knew what we were going to get when we got when we drafted Ryan," Lee said. "But he continues to impress defensively, contesting at the rim, helping us dominate the paint or protect the paint.”

Kalkbrenner — a second-round pick, No. 34 overall — knows he's still learning. But it's clear that the Hornets might have gotten a steal, simply based on how he's able to finish at the rim.

“Games come fast, and win or lose, you’ve got to be able to turn the page," Kalkbrenner said. “You can’t get too high when you get a win and play well. You can't get too low when it’s a bad game and you don't play well. The games come fast. The next opponent’s not going to feel bad for you because you’re playing bad or had a bad game or whatever.”

The craziest stat of his 10-game start might be this: He's missed three shots in five games on the road to start his career. He's shooting an incredible 23 for 25 — 92% — on 2-pointers in road games, with a miss on his lone 3-point try in there as well.

"To be honest with you, I’d rather no one know my name and us be 9-0 or whatever," Kalkbrenner said. "I mean, I’m glad I’m playing OK. But I just want to win.”