CHICAGO — One yard.

That’s all the Carolina Panthers needed on fourth down from the Chicago 25-yard line in the third quarter to make Sunday’s game at Soldier Field at least interesting.

It seemed like a safe bet with quarterback Cam Newton, the best in the NFL at picking up a yard on fourth-and-1 with 12 first downs on 14 career attempts, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

He didn’t get it.

He wasn’t really close.

So while much of the focus of the Panthers’ 17-3 loss to Chicago will be on Bears safety Eddie Jackson returning a fumble 75 yards for a touchdown and an interception 76 yards for a score, the big concern for Carolina has to be with the inability of the offensive line to give Newton enough room for 1 yard.

The concern has to be on an offense without an identity.

“Disappointed,” Newton said. “There’s no excuse to not come in and find a way to win this football game. We squandered that opportunity.”

Cam Newton made some awful decisions and was sacked five times in the Panthers’ loss to the Bears.

The return of Pro Bowl center Ryan Kalil, who hadn’t played since the opener, was supposed to help the communication up front. Kalil left on the second drive after aggravating the neck injury that kept him out the past five games. Then Pro Bowl right guard Trai Turner left in the second half with a left knee injury.

But the inefficiency of the running game was evident even when both were on the field.

Those who wondered whether 30-year-old running back Jonathan Stewart was the problem should take note that rookie Christian McCaffrey started and gained only 3 yards with two rushes on the game’s first four plays.

The issue was magnified early in the third quarter when Newton couldn’t get a yard to keep an impressive drive alive. The Panthers (4-3) were down 17-3 at the time, and had they converted and eventually punched that one in, they could have made a game of it.

Because they didn’t, it brings up concerns moving forward about the identity of this offense.

Is it the one that scored a combined 60 points in wins at New England and Detroit, with Newton throwing three touchdowns in each? Or is it what we’ve seen the past two weeks in losses to Philadelphia and Chicago?

It’s definitely not the physical run style Panthers coach Ron Rivera talked about during the preseason.

This has morphed into an offense that has forced Newton to scramble and call his own number on more run plays than offensive coordinator Mike Shula probably would like.

It has left Newton looking beaten up, as he did much of last season.

Newton will get much of the blame for the 17-3 first-half deficit, but it wasn’t all on him.

Jackson’s fumble return for a touchdown looked more like a muffed lateral by rookie Curtis Samuel instead of a fumble by Newton, as it showed up on the stats.

“I just took my eyes off it too early,” Samuel said.

Jackson’s 76-yard return of an interception was credited to Newton, but the ball went off the hand of wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin, who could have made a better attempt to go for the ball.

“The pitch wasn’t his fault,” Rivera said. “That ball should have been caught. We’ll work on it and get better at it. And when the ball ricocheted in the air (and was intercepted), again not his fault. He moved us. But unfortunately he didn’t put the ball in the end zone again.”

This isn’t to say Newton didn’t have his bad moments. His fourth-quarter interception scrambling to his right was a horrible decision. He missed several open receivers and made his share of bad reads.

He also was sacked five times, and on several of those, he should have gotten rid of the ball with good coverage.

“He overthrew Christian and he overthrew Kelvin,” Rivera said. “Those are some of the things you wish you could have back. He knows it, too. I saw his expression right after he missed them both.”

But with all that, the Panthers could have made this one interesting had they picked up 1 yard in the third quarter.

They couldn’t.

“That was very critical,” Rivera said. “In a game like this against a team like that, if you don’t score when you have that opportunity when you get down there, you might not get back down there again.”

The Panthers didn’t.

Now they’re searching for more than a yard. They’re searching for an identity.

TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston has officially been diagnosed with a sprained AC joint in the shoulder of his throwing arm, according to coach Dirk Koetter. There is no structural damage, and he’ll be day-to-day.

On Winston’s first series Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals, he took a jarring hit from linebacker Chandler Jones and fell hard on his right shoulder. He attempted to play through it but was replaced by backup Ryan Fitzpatrick in the second quarter. Fitzpatrick will get the majority of reps this week.

“Jameis is as tough as they come, but we’ll be able to see at some point this week how it’s affecting his velocity,” Koetter said. “That was the thing yesterday, when Jameis said he needed to come out — Jameis loves to compete and loves to play — but he just felt like he couldn’t drive the ball down the field like he needed to. We’ll just have to see how his days, how his recovery and how his treatment goes.”

“The fact that he’s not definitely out, that’s obviously good news,” said Koetter, adding that Winston won’t attempt to throw until later in the week, if he throws at all.

The team will make a decision to determine if he can play Sunday against the Buffalo Bills later this week. The issue is more about pain tolerance than anything. Koetter said there is no risk of further injury.

“The way I understand it, he will be cleared medically to play,” Koetter said. “I know Jameis can handle a lot of pain — that’s not gonna be an issue — I think it’s going to be more of, ‘Does Jameis feel like he can play at the level he needs to play at?’ Obviously, the No. 1 thing in all of this is Jameis’ long-term health. That has to be the No. 1 thing.”

If Winston can’t go, Fitzpatrick would start. On Sunday, Fitzpatrick completed 22 of 32 passes for 290 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. He is currently the only healthy quarterback on the Bucs’ 53-man roster.

The team’s current third quarterback, Ryan Griffin, has been recovering from a sprained AC joint in his shoulder suffered in the preseason, although it has been described as a more severe injury than Winston’s. Griffin has been on injured reserve and is eligible to return to practice this week but can’t play yet. Koetter and general manager Jason Licht have discussed bringing in another quarterback this week to assist.

INDIANAPOLIS — On an afternoon that featured the vice president of the United States leaving early in his own protest, Peyton Manning having his number retired and Frank Gore moving to seventh on the NFL’s all-time rushing list, a rookie running back saved the Indianapolis Colts from being the team that gave the San Francisco 49ers their first victory of the season.

Marlon Mack, the team’s fourth-round draft pick and heir apparent to Gore, took a handoff and ran 35 yards around the edge to put the Colts in field goal position. That’s when the ageless Adam Vinatieri took over and helped the Colts avoid embarrassment.

The 44-year-old Vinatieri made a 51-yard field goal to give an Indianapolis a 26-23 overtime victory over the 49ers. The field goal marked the 27th time in his 22-year career that Vinatieri has made a game-winning kick in the fourth quarter or overtime.

“We have to figure it out, what’s going on,” Colts cornerback Rashaan Melvin said after they blew a 14-point fourth-quarter lead. “We keep saying the same thing, ‘We have to play 60 minutes, have to play 60 minutes.’ Something has to change. If we want to be a successful team in this league, we have to close out teams when we have an opportunity. This was a game we should have closed out. We got the ‘W.’”

The Colts got the victory they badly needed, but they shouldn’t feel like it’s a sign of good things to come for them.

That’s because they nearly added to Chuck Pagano’s list of coaching blunders.

Sunday was almost a repeat situation from the Colts’ game in Houston in October 2016.

They had a 23-9 lead in the fourth quarter, just like last season in Houston. All they had to do was step up defensively and come up with a stop to keep the 49ers winless.

But just like it has been way too often during Pagano’s tenure as coach of the Colts, the defense let the team down.

Brian Hoyer, as he did with the Chicago Bears, carved up the Colts and led the 49ers back, tying the score at 23-23 with 24 seconds remaining on a 5-yard touchdown pass to tight end George Kittle.

The Colts have now been outscored by an NFL-high 45 points in the fourth quarter this season, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

“You’re up 14 in the fourth, you’ve got to find a way,” Pagano said. “They made plays, they got hot, they found the tight end, they got something going and [Hoyer] made some plays.”

When Pagano hands out game balls, he needs to hand one to Mack, the rookie out of the University of South Florida. Mack finished with nine carries for 91 yards. His overtime run capped an impressive day in which he sparked an offense that had been outscored by 67 points in the first half heading into Sunday.

“We’ve all seen snapshots and glimpses of what he can do,” Pagano said. “He just hasn’t been available all the time. He’s been nicked up. It’s great to have him back.”

But the Colts finally had some offensive production in the second half. It started with a 26-yard screen pass to Gore, who passed Eric Dickerson for seventh place on the all-time rushing list on his first carry of the game.

Then Mack gained 11 yards on a run around the right edge, and then on the next play, he started up the middle before breaking to the outside along the Colts’ sideline for a 25-yard touchdown run with the help of a block from T.Y. Hilton.

Mack put the Colts in position for another touchdown when he was stopped up the middle, but then bounced to the outside where he was stopped at San Francisco’s 1-yard line. Jacoby Brissett ran it in to extend the Colts’ lead to 14 points two plays later.

Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown is expected to go with a starting five of rookie Markelle Fultz, JJ Redick, Robert Covington, Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid when the regular season tips off next month. That will likely leave Dario Saric, the No. 12 pick in the 2014 NBA draft, with the sixth-man role, and the second-year forward has no issue coming off the bench.

“Everybody wants to start, you know. Sometimes it’s easier to start,” Saric told The Philadelphia Inquirer. “But I don’t have a problem coming from the bench.”

In his first season in the NBA, Saric was a 2016-17 Rookie of the Year finalist.

“I had a really good first season,” Saric said. “But I will try to do that in the second season, too.”

Saric made 81 appearances last season, including 36 starts, and averaged 12.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game.

The NFL returns to London on Sunday when the Jacksonville Jaguars make their fifth trip overseas to meet the Baltimore Ravens at Wembley Stadium. We’re as excited for an incredibly early kickoff as you are. We’re also here to break down what to watch for as you sip coffee and wipe the sleep from your eyes. Wake up! Football is on!

1. Who wins the race out of the gate? Baltimore has allowed just five points per game in its two contests, and if two games of tape hold true, it won’t be much easier for the Jaguars, even with the trip overseas. This presents a rather large issue for Jacksonville, which has shown in its two games that it needs an early lead to have a good shot at a win. That comes by the Jaguars forcing turnovers to position Blake Bortles in advantageous situations, where chance of success is high and damage inflicted by mistakes is minimal. Sunday isn’t setting up like that, at least on paper.

2. Baltimore pounded Cincinnati into submission in Week 1 by way of forcing turnovers and the run game. The Ravens opened things up more through the air in their Week 2 win over the Browns, but the engine of the offense is still its rushing attack. In two games, Javorius Allen and Terrance West have combined to rush for 239 yards on 62 carries. Alex Collins added 42 yards on seven carries in the win over Cleveland. None of the aforementioned runners are easy to bring down, and a steady dose of carries has visibly worn down two defenses in consecutive weeks. Establishing the run against a hungry Jaguars pass rush worked wonders for the Titans in Week 2, and should keep Jacksonville’s defense honest. It should also keep Joe Flacco from ending up on his back, which he admitted this week isn’t exactly 100 percent.

3. The Jaguars caused plenty of chaos in their Week 1 win over the Texans and took advantage of the resulting turnovers in a 29-7 win, but didn’t find the same success in Week 2. Calais Campbell’s four sacks still leads the NFL, but he went without one last week. Jacksonville will have to break through Baltimore’s offensive line, which has allowed just three total sacks in two games (T-8th in the league). As effective as Jacksonville has been at forcing turnovers, Baltimore is even better. The Ravens are first in the league in turnovers forced and turnover differential, while Jacksonville ranks T-18th and T-4th in the same categories. It’s entirely cliche but also very true in this matchup: The turnover battle will determine the winner.

4. Ageless wonder Terrell Suggs is tied for third in sacks with three. As a team, Baltimore is tied for fifth in the NFL with eight sacks. Jacksonville successfully relied on Leonard Fournette and its defense in Week 1, taking the onus off Bortles and making his passes less consequential. With a menace like Suggs and an opportunistic defense, that might not be possible. Fournette will have to get going early if the Jags want a chance in this one, or else risk Suggs and Co. pinning their ears back and hunting for Bortles.

5. The London Jags stronghold! Thanks to Jacksonville spending a week overseas in each of the last four seasons, a dedicated group of Jaguars fans have emerged from within London. They’ll take to Wembley Stadium to greet the Ravens, who are making their first trip to London in franchise history. Can Jacksonville get a rare (and somewhat odd) home-field advantage, even while an ocean away from home? Are there more Ravens fans in England than we currently realize? Find out on Sunday!

CLEVELAND — When reality set in, the ovation steadily grew as the Cleveland Indians emerged from their dugout.

With the scoreboard showing a loss and the Kansas City Royals shaking hands and high-fiving each other nearby, the Indians tipped their caps to salute fans who came hoping to see more late-inning magic and a record streak continue.

You can’t win ’em all.

Cleveland’s historic run is over.

The Indians, who captured America’s attention during a dominating three-week run, had their AL-record winning streak stopped at 22 straight on Friday night with a 4-3 loss to the Royals, who became the first team to conquer the defending league champions since Aug. 23.

Jason Vargas (16-10) pitched into the sixth and Brandon Moss homered off Trevor Bauer (16-9) as the Royals, who were beaten five times by Cleveland over the past few weeks, ended baseball’s longest win streak in 101 years.

But when it ended, there was a celebration as a crowd of 34,025 fans saluted a team that took them on an improbable ride they are unlikely to see again in their lifetimes.

“They’ve been so supportive,” said Indians manager Terry Francona, who led his team out of the dugout to return the love to the crowd. “The atmosphere around here is incredible and I think our players wanted to show their appreciation. It’s by no means the last game of the year or anything like that, it’s just been pretty incredible how they’ve reacted and we just wanted to show our appreciation because we don’t take it for granted.”

“I don’t think anything is over.”

The Indians set a new league mark and came within four of matching the overall record held by the 1916 New York Giants, a 26-game string that became the subject of scrutiny because it included a tie in the middle.

But despite the loss, Cleveland’s magic number for clinching the AL Central dropped to two after second-place Minnesota was beaten by Toronto.

Following a magical, walk-off win in extra innings on Thursday night, the Indians couldn’t muster another late rally.

When Francisco Lindor, one of the stars in Cleveland’s 3-2 win on Thursday, struck out with a runner on first to end it, the crowd experienced the slightest moment of disappointment before appreciating what they had just seen. And as they stood and cheered, the Indians clapped in return.

“It’s been great,” Bauer said. “They came out, they supported us. The atmosphere last night and tonight was spectacular. Shoot, even tonight after the loss, everyone was standing and stuff like that. It was a pretty cool moment.”

The Indians, who are already assured a playoff spot, not only broke the previous AL record of 20 held by the 2002 “Moneyball” Oakland Athletics, but they served notice that they well could be the team to beat in the postseason as they attempt to get back to the World Series and perhaps end their 68-year title drought after the Chicago Cubs halted their 108-year dry spell at Cleveland’s expense in 2016.

Jose Ramirez, who has forced his way into the MVP conversation, hit a two-run homer and the Indians took a 3-1 lead before the Royals scored a run in the fourth, fifth and sixth.

With one last chance in the ninth, the Indians put the tying run on base before Royals reliever Mike Minor struck out the side for his first pro save, fanning Lindor on a pitch in the dirt.

That touched off a wild celebration, which shook Progressive Field and gave Cleveland fans a chance to get ready for bigger games to come.

“I think it was appropriate. We haven’t lost a game in three weeks. We played a good game,” Cleveland outfielder Jay Bruce said. “It wasn’t like we got just blown out or anything. I think (it was important) to have a bit of a light-hearted attitude about it all, and not take it too hard, obviously, because we’re in a great position.”

“We just did something that, depending on who you ask, one or no teams have ever done. So, it’s one of those deals where we understand what the situation is, and this is not something that would happen very often.”

For the better part of a month, the Indians had no equals.

“What they did over there was amazing. I mean, it’s utterly amazing,” Royals manager Ned Yost said. “It’s just unfathomable for me that you can go three weeks without losing a game. I mean, it was a tremendous accomplishment.”

“I mean, we’ve got a runner on first, two outs, two strikes on Lindor, and I told Jirsch (third base coach Mike Jirschele), ‘man, we’ve been here before.’ Luckily we got through it tonight,” he said.

On their way to making AL history, the Indians romped through the league like no team has before.

They outscored opponents 145-41, led in all but 12 of 207 innings, hit 42 homers and captured the attention of baseball fans fixated on the hot-then-cold Los Angeles Dodgers, Houston Astros and seeing how far Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge could hit homers.

Francona kept his players focused throughout the streak, mindful that it could become too big. They’ll likely wrap it up their division this weekend and can start looking ahead to a postseason where the only streak that will matter is winning the last game they play.

“To me, it’s just kind of a jumping off point,” Francona said. “Where do we go from here? It’s up. Common sense said you’re going to lose a game. It was a lot of fun. We’ll show up tomorrow and my guess is we’ll have real good energy and see if we can beat the Royals.”

An already thin Seattle Seahawks cornerbacks crew lost a key participant in the first quarter against Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.

Seahawks starting cornerback Jeremy Lane was ejected for throwing a punch.

An altercation between Lane and Packers wide receiver Davante Adams began on an interception return by Seahawks defensive lineman Nazair Jones. After Adams engaged Lane, the two went to the ground. Officials deemed that Lane threw a punch in the scuffle.

An apparent pick-six by Jones was nullified by a block in the back penalty on Cliff Avril during the return.

Facing Rodgers with a full set of defensive backs is hard enough. Lane’s ejection makes the proposition exponentially more difficult.

Jaromir Jagr has the second-most points in NHL history, but he still doesn’t have a job in the league as the summer marches toward fall.

The 45-year-old is even considering starting the season with the second-tier team he owns in his native Czech Republic.

“The most serious negotiations I have are with Kladno, because Kladno has a smart owner who knows what he wants,” Jagr joked, according to NHL.com. “No, really, I don’t have a clue. I leave it all on my agent [Petr Svoboda]. There is a couple of [NHL] teams that showed interest, but nothing specific yet.”

Jagr had 46 points in 82 games for the Florida Panthers last season, but the sides couldn’t agree on a new deal and parted ways. He wants to return to the NHL for a 24th season, even for part of a season, which means he doesn’t want to commit to the top Czech league.

“That would be the advantage of playing for Kladno. One thing is I would be at home and the other is I would have a chance to leave for the NHL anytime there is an opportunity,” he said, according to NHL.com. “Let’s say some team deals with injuries and needs help, then I could pack my stuff in the next day and go. If I played in Extraliga, I wouldn’t have such an option unless the Czech league season would be over.”

Jagr needs to play in 57 NHL games to pass Gordie Howe for the most ever. His 765 goals are 36 behind Howe for second behind Wayne Gretzky. Jagr figures he’d need two seasons to do that because he’s not the same player who scored more than 50 goals in a season three times. He did score 16 last season and 27 the year before that, so he feels he can still contribute.

“I know very well I’m not the same player like 10 or 15 years ago, when I was able to win games by myself,” he said, according to NHL.com. “It’s up to the coach what position he wants to use me. Maybe it would be even better for me if I played on a second or third line because I would play against worse players and worse defensemen. I didn’t have as much luck in my entire career; I always had to face the top defensemen. Even in Florida, I always played against the best, which was always very tough.”

The NHL season starts Oct. 4, but rookies report to teams at the beginning of September.

“This situation is a little uncomfortable when I don’t know what’s going to happen, and also when is the season going to start for me, because the season in Europe starts one month earlier,” Jagr said, according to the website.

Curtis Granderson is 36 years old and savvy enough to understand where the fun and games of baseball end and the business side begins. He has played for both New York franchises, been a prominent voice in the players’ association, signed a $60 million deal with the Mets as a free agent, and changed uniforms after a trade before, so nothing that transpires at this point in his career will faze him much.

Still, the Los Angeles Dodgers found a way to rock his world a week ago. After a loss to the Miami Marlins at Citi Field, the Mets finalized a trade to send Granderson to the Dodgers for a player to be named. In a brief, chaotic span, Granderson went from playing out the string in New York to playing outfield for a team that oddsmakers have designated as the clear World Series favorite.

“Anytime you get traded, the first thought is, ‘Why did I get traded?’” Granderson said. “But the second thought is, ‘That means somebody really wants you.’ The fact that this team was at the top of the list of (teams) who wanted me was exciting. They feel I can come in and help them out, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”

The Dodgers could have easily justified abstaining from major transactions as the season wound toward a conclusion. With a 5-2 victory in Pittsburgh on Thursday, they became the 12th team in MLB history to reach 90 victories by their 126th game. They lead the National League West by 21 games over second-place Arizona, have a gargantuan run differential of plus-223, and sported the best record by an NL team through 126 games (90-36) since Stan Musial and the St. Louis Cardinals went on a 92-34 blitz to begin the 1944 season.

Amid the monotony of winning, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and his group have been active in fine-tuning the machine for the postseason. The Dodgers added Yu Darvish to the rotation and lefty relievers Tony Watson and Tony Cingrani to the bullpen by the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, and have strengthened their batting order with a double dose of initiative and patience in August.

Just as Granderson was joining the Dodgers, the team was activating Adrian Gonzalez from the 60-day disabled list and optioning Joc Pederson to Triple-A Oklahoma City for a refresher course. Gonzalez had been out since June 12 with a herniated disc in his back.

“Anytime you can get guys like that in your lineup, it’s a huge plus,” said shortstop Corey Seager. “I think we did a really good job of not settling with the team we had. You can always improve. You can always do better. A big hats off to our front office for going out and doing it and making the push.”

The new additions made a big impression as the Dodgers won three of four games in Pittsburgh this week (with the only loss coming on Rich Hill’s near no-hitter). Granderson hit a grand slam in the series opener, added a solo shot in the finale and walked seven times in four games. Gonzalez became the first player of Mexican descent to reach 2,000 hits with a double off Pirates reliever Johnny Barbato on Wednesday, and then tacked on a solo homer Thursday.

Manager Dave Roberts has already shown some creativity with his new toys. In Wednesday’s game, Granderson and Gonzalez hit in the Nos. 3-4 spots in the order. The following day, they batted second and fifth. At-bats could be tougher to come by when Cody Bellinger returns from an ankle injury in September. But Roberts loves the dimension that Granderson and Gonzalez bring as veterans with postseason experience.

“As the numbers show, we can slug with anyone,” Roberts said. “We can hit the ball out of the ballpark. But when you’re facing [starters who are] 1s and 2s, those homers are hard to come by. To be able to string together some hits or take a walk, that’s how you beat those guys, in my opinion. When you add Curtis and Adrian and a healthy Cody Bellinger and the other guys in our lineup who have the same mentality — but can also slug when there’s a mistake — we’re relentless. It’s a lineup that has to be very taxing on a pitching staff.”

Opponents have been rendered helpless in their attempts to find soft spots in the Los Angeles lineup. The Dodgers are fourth in the National League with 183 homers and second to Washington among NL clubs with a .451 slugging percentage. They also lead the majors with 524 walks, and now they’ve added two players with the patience and strike zone judgment to keep grinding against the game’s elite pitchers in the postseason.

Granderson and Gonzalez both understand the challenges that await them in October, when opponents bore in on hitters’ weaknesses with meticulously detailed scouting reports, and when off days and cold weather can be disruptive to routines. Granderson has a .239/.339/.457 slash line with nine home runs in 222 postseason plate appearances, while Gonzalez checks in at .266/.329/.453 and seven homers in 140 October plate appearances.

Granderson has a 22.7 percent strikeout rate in his career and a nondescript .699 OPS vs. lefties, but he’s averaged 4.20 pitches per plate appearance in the big leagues and typically ranks among the game’s most selective hitters. Gonzalez has just two home runs in 57 games this season, but he has swung the bat with more authority and been less hesitant to cut it loose since his return from the disabled list.

“As he starts to see the finish line and understands that he’s gearing up for a postseason, you see the focus,” Roberts said. “That’s why Adrian has performed in big games and in the postseason throughout his career. He has that ability to stay in the strike zone and get that big hit or walk when you need it and pass the baton. From the moment he came back, he’s been determined to show he warrants an opportunity each day.”

As a tandem, Granderson and Gonzalez have a combined eight All-Star appearances, 615 homers and 3,648 hits on their resumes. But they’ve embraced the Dodgers’ team-first mantra and said all the right things about playing time and their respective roles. Roberts said this week that Seager and Bellinger will get their at-bats late in games no matter how daunting the left-handed bullpen matchups, but the manager won’t hesitate to pinch-hit for Granderson, Gonzalez or Chase Utley if a better option is on the bench.

That’s fine with Gonzalez, who understands that Seager, Bellinger and third baseman Justin Turner have ascended to the top of the Dodgers’ offensive hierarchy and everyone needs to accept a subordinate role.

“Cody, Corey and JT are our top three guys, and they’re the guys we’re going to depend on in October,” Gonzalez said. “Other than that, every single other guy is a top-of-the-line complementary guy.”

So Gonzalez is fine with the “complementary” label after spending most of his 14 MLB seasons as the centerpiece to lineups?

“It’s OK,” he said. “I can be that. Why wouldn’t I?”

While Gonzalez rediscovers his swing mechanics and kicks off the rust, Granderson navigates the garden-variety logistics and life disruptions that midseason trades can bring. Last weekend he joined the Dodgers in Detroit, where he spent his first five big league seasons, before accompanying the team to Pittsburgh. He got his first look at the Dodger Stadium home clubhouse Friday night against the Milwaukee Brewers.

“It’s tough,” Granderson said. “You come into a situation where a team has played a lot of games. It’s not just a month or spring training or a previous season. They’re a lot of games into this season, and you’ve been accustomed to one way and they’ve been accustomed to another way. Now I’m coming in and watching and observing while they’re also watching and observing me, but we still have to go out there and play. So it’s a mixture of all those things wrapped up into one.”

Between the lineup adjustments and frequent roster moves, the Dodgers haven’t had any trouble acclimating between the lines. Barely a week into the new arrangement, all parties involved can’t help but like what they see.

This week’s mailbag features your questions on Marvin Bagley III’s reclassification, the teammates of Chris Paul and LeBron James, and more.

“Why couldn’t the Cleveland Cavaliers simply replace Kyrie Irving’s production with an increase in Kevin Love’s? If you compare those two players’ most productive seasons, Love has shown the ability to be as efficient (measured in TS%) with nearly as high usage rates as Irving’s. Bring in someone like Eric Bledsoe to replace Love’s Cavs production — last year, Bledsoe was nearly as efficient with noticeably higher usage — and in terms of efficient production, you may even come out ahead.

“Obviously this question has lots of unknowns — Does that Love still exist? Can the Cavs create an offensive system that leverages his talents? Can Irving’s incredible iso abilities be replaced by anything? — but in terms of raw numbers, it seems plausible to me.”

- Eric Black

So, I think there are two major issues with this notion. The first is one that you address, the possibility that the Love who shouldered a usage rate near 30 percent with above-average efficiency in 2011-12 and 2013-14 simply no longer exists due to injuries and age-related decline.

Back then, Love got a higher percentage of his attempts within 3 feet than he has lately as his game has drifted to the perimeter, and he also made them at a higher rate: 66.9 percent accuracy in 2013-14, per Basketball-Reference.com, which was a career-high by a wide margin. The past two seasons, Love has made just 55.5 percent of those shots. Playing inside also translated into frequent free throw attempts for Love, which boosted his efficiency.

Intriguingly, according to NBAwowy.com, Love was quite efficient in the small sample of 142 minutes he played last season as Cleveland’s lone All-Star on the court, posting a .606 true shooting percentage while using more than 40 percent of the team’s plays.

Even if Love is up to the task, however, I think the bigger issue is thinking of NBA offense as additive in this sense. There are too many interaction effects between teammates, most notably in terms of the gravitational pull a good outside shooter like Irving exerts on a defense. The Cavaliers would still be replacing a 40.1 percent 3-point shooter in 2016-17 (38.3 percent career) with one who has made just 33.4 percent of his career 3-point attempts.

In playoff settings in particular, Bledsoe’s shooting would be a major downgrade from Irving even if Cleveland didn’t necessarily miss Irving’s shot creation. And I don’t think the upgrade defensively would make up for that sacrifice.

“I have always had issues with the idea of stars who make players better. LeBron James & Chris Paul have the reputations of making players better and get critical acclaim for doing so. In reality, players who play with LeBron James and Chris Paul appear to regress skillwise. It is certainly true LeBron and CP3 create easy shots and make the game easier for players they are on the floor with, but the players themselves struggle with simple basketball concepts when LeBron and CP3 aren’t on the floor. LeBron and CP3 have created so much dependence that the players are lost without them.”

– Joseph Brown

I’m not sure I get the argument with Paul given that Clippers coach Doc Rivers has famously resisted staggering the minutes of his stars. The Clippers have struggled with Paul on the bench largely because they’re running out lineups of five backups, and it’s hard for those players to become dependent on Paul when they rarely play with him.

It’s certainly true that James’ teams have tended to underperform what you’d expect with him on the bench given the star talent around him in Miami and during his current tenure in Cleveland, something I don’t totally understand. Former Cavaliers GM David Griffin’s comments on The Jump saw him take the blame for not doing a good enough job of communicating to players the opportunity for them when James sat out games to rest.

I do think there’s an element where teammates become accustomed to James carrying a heavy load and struggle with the adjustment when he’s off the court. I don’t buy that they “regress skillwise” since I don’t think there is a long-term impact when James leaves or his teammates change teams. I’m also not sure that the solution here — I guess James not doing as much? — is better than the problem.

“Curious if/how Marvin Bagley III’s reclassification changes how you view this summer’s Boston Celtics/Philadelphia 76ers trade.”

- Jonathan Dennis

Not much. Bagley was always going to be in one of the two drafts where the picks from that trade could fall. To refresh everyone’s memory, Boston gets the Los Angeles Lakers’ 2018 first-rounder if it lands in picks 2 through 5. Otherwise, the Celtics get the better of first-round picks from Philadelphia and the Sacramento Kings in 2019 unless one of those picks lands No. 1, in which case Boston gets the other’s pick.

Adding Bagley to the 2018 mix makes the top of that draft even stronger, so if the Celtics do get the Lakers’ pick, then it’s likely to be better. At the same time, the Lakers adding Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Brook Lopez this offseason has reduced the chances that their pick will fall in that narrow band — running simulations using our projections based on ESPN’s real plus-minus (RPM) shows Boston getting the pick about a quarter of the time — so a stronger 2019 draft might have been better for the Celtics.

In terms of draft prospects specifically, I think Canadian wing R.J. Barrett reclassifying to the 2018 recruiting class — and thus potentially the 2019 draft — is a bigger deal for Boston than Bagley’s move.

Given that Cody Zeller’s minutes have always been somewhat limited and Dwight Howard should probably play fewer so as to stay fresh at this stage of his career, I’m not sure there will be a huge difference in playing time, no matter who starts and who comes off the bench.

In the spirit of the question … I’m not sure. In terms of box score stats, Howard remains far more productive than Zeller. Howard is a much better defensive rebounder — Charlotte already had the league’s second-best defensive-rebound percentage, so it’s possible that nobody will grab an offensive board against the Hornets all season — and a superior rim protector. Yet Zeller has rated far better in terms of RPM impact, which reflects his edge in mobility and perhaps his willingness to accept a smaller role on offense.

From a fit standpoint, it’s likely that Zeller will be less effective in the pick-and-roll game playing without Kemba Walker. According to NBA.com/Stats, Zeller shot 58.0 percent last season when playing with Walker and just 50.0 percent when the All-Star point guard was on the bench. However, Howard was even more effective than Zeller as a roll man; Howard’s 65.9 percent shooting ranked fourth among players with at least 50 attempts as a roll man, per Synergy Sports tracking on NBA.com/Stats, compared with 52.3 percent for Zeller. So I think that’s probably still an edge as long as Howard is willing to roll hard to the basket instead of trying to shoot 3s or post up.

Are the Sonics back in Seattle yet?