May 27, 2025

The Dodgers are still hanging on to 1st place in the NL West, but are still working through their issues. They left a series win on the table over the weekend against the Mets, largely because of two problems: Tanner Scott and Michael Conforto. Scott blew a 3-run lead on Friday, and continues to have problems locating his pitches when he runs up counts. The Dodgers think he can make an adjustment to fix this, but does it have to be during closing time? The Dodgers have enough dudes that can handle this for the time being until he fixes things. He’s a $75 million reliever, so hopefully he can turn it around soon. Then there’s Conforto, who is a $17 million bust right now, who couldn’t hit water if a fell out of a boat. How much longer are the Dodgers going to give this guy at bats when they are well aware they have a stud on the bench in Hyesong Kim? This team feels rather unserious about repeating as champions until they make that move.

As for the Angels, it briefly looked like they had turned things around, climbing back to .500, then they lost 2 of 3 to the lowly Marlins, and last night to the Yankees. They also signed former Dodger Chris Taylor over the weekend, who is suddenly getting starts for them. That’s right, a guy hitting .185 who suddenly may be better than their other sub .200 hitters. I think more than anything, the last week is a reminder that the Angels might in fact have some decent young players like Zach Neto, Nolan Schanuel, and Logan O’Hoppe, but if they don’t add quality pieces to supplement them, they will continue to be a bad team.

We many times take the greatness of certain players for granted. I think we can say that about Lebron James, who earned second team all NBA last week. He now has 21 All-NBA appearances, in 22 season. Do you realize how crazy that is? This man has been no worse than a Top 15 player in the league for two decades, and you can argue that he is the GOAT. Honestly, if the team had been a little more consistent early on, he might have been been 1st team All-NBA. You’ve also gotta give credit to James Harden of the Clippers, who got 3rd team all-NBA, especially when we were all about to write him off as just a fat strip club guy. He’s still a strip club guy, but he can also still ball.

It’s going to happen. The NBA Finals are going to end up being OKC vs Indiana. You’re all going to say “oh great the NBA has parity and small markets can compete now!” Ok that’s all great until you see the dumpster fire that will be the ratings. At that point the league will be begging for it’s large markets back. With that being said, if you like basketball, you will like those team teams, and it could be a very interesting and entertaining matchup. The Knicks did a great job coming back from down 20 against yesterday against the Pacers, but I don’t think the way they play is sustainable. I also don’t know what the deal is with Anthony Edwards. In 2 of the 4 games against Oklahoma City, it’s like he can’t even get a shot off. I know he’s trying to make the right basketball play, but at some point he’s got to take matters into his own hands, because he can probably be that good.

Finally, The Last of Us on HBO is a phenomenal show, but really left us on quite a cliff hanger in the season finale. Spoiler alert for those of you who have yet to see, so read no further if you plan on watching it later. Bottom line is this: Abby fired at somebody, and we don’t know if Elle died, somebody else, or nobody at all. We do know that Jessie died. Wow though. We have to wait until 2027 to find out? Ugh. After all that, I don’t think it’s Elle that’s going to die in this scenario. In fact, without entirely knowing what happened in the game, it makes perfect sense not to kill her and to kill both Tommy and Jessie. The point here is that Elle is becoming a very unlikable character who is very selfish. She showed that she can’t even do anything self-less like save that baby in the pregnant woman who was dying. Losing Tommy and Jessie would be punishment enough for her, and I think Abby knows that.

May 19, 2025

Contrary to what you might be hearing, the Lakers have tradeable pieces and assets to improve their squad, and put them into championship contention. If we have learned anything from these playoffs, the gap between all these teams in the West is very narrow. Even for the OKC Thunder, who are the best team, they aren’t head and shoulders better than everyone else. I’m not saying Austin Reaves, Dalton Knecht, and their draft capital can get them Giannis, but it can get them a starting center and more quality role players. One player who is attainable but risky, would be Joel Embiid. Bill Simmons actually suggested this. I mean his contract and health make him so risky, the Lakers might be able to get Embiid for draft capital and their expiring contracts, while holding onto Reaves. Would I do it? I would not. The Lakers training staff has a hard enough time keeping guys healthy that don’t have chronic injury problems. How would they keep Embiid healthy when they can’t even heal a paper cut in two weeks? If you’re going to have 3 players making max money like you would with Embiid, it’s tough to put enough quality players around them. That makes the situation even tougher when one of those three stars isn’t avaialble every night. It’s an interesting idea, but there’s far less risky trades that can be made with the assets the Lakers have, which can still vault them into contention.

I have always said that I’m not saying the NBA Draft Lottery is rigged, but the league doesn’t do a great job trying to convince us it isn’t rigged. I no longer think that. Now I just think the NBA draft lottery is in fact rigged. Yes I understand that statistical improbabilities happen all the time. However, this number of statistical improbabilities happening is nearly impossible. Collin Cowherd said people win the lottery every day. Yes Collin, but the same person doesn’t win the lottery every single year. That’s exactly what’s happening here. It can’t be just dumb luck that the Mavs traded Luka, and earned the #1 pick. Or the Cavs losing Lebron, then getting the #1 pick after that. Or the Pelicans trading Anthony Davis, and getting the #1 pick after that. Or the Pelicans trading Chris Paul, then getting the #1 pick after that. Or Derrick Rose going to his home town in Chicago when the Bulls got the #1 pick. Only 8 out of 41 lotteries has the worst team earned the #1 pick, and none since Adam Silver changed the lottery odds in 2018. It’s like the league is punishing the teams that tank, which I can understand, but the rigging is so obvious. Just because you have some Ernst & Young dude putting window dressing on it, that isn’t good enough to convince me it isn’t rigged.

Props to the NBC for hiring Michael Jordan as a special contributor to their broadcasts next year. I have no idea what his contributions will look like, or if it will be the players interviewing Michael Jordan instead. However, it will be fascinating to watch. I don’t even know if MJ watches the NBA on a day-to-day basis, and for all we know, this guy might be contributing to the broadcasts while smoking a cigar on the golf course, or while playing a few hands of black jack at the Casino in Vegas. Nevertheless, it will be fun!

To baseball, where the Dodgers had a rough weekend against the Angels. Coming into the game, you would have thought the Boys in Blue would have made the Halos look like a tee ball team. It was the other way around though, where suddenly the Angels looked like the ’27 Yankees. The Dodgers pitching just didn’t have it together. It was nice to see Clayton Kershaw back on the mound despite his struggled. I’m going to chalk that one up to rust and too much adrenaline. Since the Dodgers badly need starters right now, he’s worth riding for a while, and I expect that he will be better than he was the other night. It was really the right move for the Dodgers to DFA Austin Barnes and Chris Taylor to make room for Dalton Rushing and Hyesong Kim. Rushing and Kim are excellent young players they need to find time for. Barnes and Taylor both had a very nice run with the club, but their performance had dropped off the point where they had to make room for more promising young players. I don’t know what’s happened to Anthony Banda. He is a shell of what he was last year. Dave Roberts said the Dodgers bullpen usage is currently “unsustainable” but the Dodgers have been operating this year for years. I’ve never loved it, but why is it now a bigger problem than before? The Dodgers have more pitching injuries because they are the biggest believe in analytics in baseball. Throw as hard as you can for as long as you can. That will always lead to pitching injuries you have to manage. On the bright side it’s nice to see Max Muncy turning things around at the plate. Let’s hope this weekend was just an aberration for the Dodgers and nothing more than that.

As for the Angels, is anybody really convince they can build off what we saw over the weekend? We’ll see, but it would be typical Halos to get swept in Oakland. Once thing was clear though, their starting pitching really isn’t that bad. However, a sign of a really bad organization is one where the pitching is bad one year, and the lineup is good. Then the following year the pitching is good but the lineup is bad, and the bullpen, like we are seeing this year. It’s just a hodge podge of players the organization tries in every area, and nothing sticks. Even with the up and down offense, if the Angels could just fix their bullpen, they would probably be a lot more competitive. Let’s see if they can build any momentum after this weekend.

In case you have not heard, the UCLA Athletic Department is in a major financial crisis. This is caused by a settlement with the NCAA to is athletes, Olympic sports running about $34 million in the red during the most recent fiscal year, the lack of suite and premium-seat revenue at the Rose Bowl as part of UCLA’s lease agreement with the stadium, and a legacy licensing and sponsorship agreements with Associated Students UCLA that provides the lion’s share of revenue to the student organization. Their solution is to add a more premium ticket experience to the Rose Bowl with suites and tailgating, dynamic ticket pricing, and elevated experience at Pauley Pavilion. That’s all great, but the reality is if you spend the money, nobody will come unless you’re winning games. The LA sports market demands winning if you want people to show up. Even if you have a premium experience, people won’t show up if you’re a mediocre team. The product on the football field has been mediocre for a long time, and the product on the basketball court hasn’t been elite for a long time. Ultimately, UCLA football and basketball has portions of their season competing with the Lakers, Dodgers, Clippers, Rams, Chargers, USC sports, Kings, and Ducks. You have to win to get people to show up and be willing to pay for the experience. People certainly aren’t going to hike all the way to Pasadena to see some trash football. Until they fix on the field and court product, the rest is pointless because there is too much to do in SoCal.

It’s official: the Kings hired Ken Holland last week as their new GM. This would have been a move I would have been excited about 20 years ago. Not this time. It’s just another move that is not creative by Luc Robitaille. Sure Holland has won Stanley Cups before in Detroit, but that was in the pre-salary cap era. People will point to Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in Edmonton and him getting them to the finals, but he didn’t draft the two stars. Even a monkey could have drafted them. I unfortunately see Holland as someone who might be overly aggressive in free agency and trades, and unload all the young talent on this team for re-tread veterans. Here’s to hoping I’m wrong but I’m not optimistic.

May 12, 2025

The Lakers offseason is underway and trade rumors are already flying. Let’s start with the obvious. Luka isn’t going anywhere. Let hope he isn’t hitting every food truck in LA between now and training camp, but he’s probably going to sign an extension of some kind. I don’t care what kind of drama you think he’s creating, Lebron isn’t going anywhere either. That brings us to Austin Reaves. He’s a bargain at $14 million, but he’s going to be due a massive payday. He can easily get 3 times what he’s making now annually on the open market come next summer. He’s one of 11 players in the league that put up the numbers he did last season, and the other 10 are all-star players. Austin is a great third option, and he’s young enough to continue to improving and become an all-star. However, if the Lakers have an opportunity get a top 10 player in the league in return, they should consider trading him. That probably means only Giannis, because Joel Embiid is a major health concern. Acquiring a player like Giannis bring a whole host of other questions like is it worth it to send every asset you have for a player like that and will you have enough depth left over to compete, but the point is that’s really the only reason to trade Austin. Only the Lakers are a franchise that can imagine these types of scenarios, because historically, that’s what they’ve done. It’s exactly how they got Luka Doncic 3 months ago.

Meanwhile, you’ve gotta wonder how the Clippers are truly viewing their own team. The year went better than they thought, and Kawhi got back to where they hoped he would be. So did James Harden. The question is how much longer can Harden do this because he’s 36, and how much longer can Kawhi stay healthy because he hasn’t proven he can do it for long. The problem is they locked themselves into the Kawhi business for the next 2 years, after he signed an extension last year. They also don’t really own their own 1st round picks for two more years. So they have to try to compete with what they have now. Their best bet is to try and sign Harden to a 2-year extension if he opts out, and try to compete with what they have, while they have Kawhi under contract. It may not be ideal, but they proved they aren’t terrible if healthy. Besides, the strip club industry would be devastated if Harden left LA. Then in 2027, they can figure out how to move forward with their books clean and all their future draft capital in hand.

Who are you cheering for now that the Lakers and Clippers have been eliminated from the playoffs? To me the equation is simple, especially if you’re a Laker fan. You don’t want the Celtics, Nuggets, or Warriors to win the championship. Any other result is perfectly acceptable. Unfortunately, despite being down 2-1 to the Knicks, Boston still looks like the best team, and the Nuggets aren’t out of it with OKC either. If the Nuggets and Celtics played in the finals, Laker fans would probably be hoping some kind of a meteor hit the arena to take out everyone.

Since we last spoke here on Jock Talk LA, a lot has actually happened with the LA Kings. They parted ways with Rob Blake, their GM of 8 years, which was a good thing. However, Luc Robitaille is still their President of Hockey Operations, and Jim Hiller is still their coach, which is very awkward. So how do you hire a new General Manager with a coach in place who proved he doesn’t know what he’s doing? “Hey we would love to have you as our GM, but you’ll be forced to have this completely useless figurehead as your coach!” Sounds like a great sales pitch. I’ve heard a lot of names, but the reality of it is, if the Kings name some internal replacement like Marc Bergevin then this is a stupid exercise. It might just be nothing more than Luc Robitaille trying to save his own butt. Only time will tell, but can’t say I’m optimistic.

The Dodgers split a 4 game series with Arizona over the weekend, and have reclaimed the best record in the Major Leagues for the time being. They still have a lot of issues to work through over the next few months, but they have time. The biggest part of these issues with their lineup is Max Muncy, and his performance at 3rd baseman, along with some inconsistencies in the outfield. Muncy has performed maybe a tad better in the last week or two, but still has a way to go before you can consider him a reliable option at the plate. Andy Pages has improved his hitting of late, but can you continue to trust him? We’ll see. The starting pitching though is a major health problem. They only have 4 healthy starters, and 14 pitchers on the IL. It’s nice to see Tony Gonsolin back and pitching well, and Clayton Kershaw is on the way, but it doesn’t seem like Blake Snell or Tyler Glasnow are coming back anytime soon. Dave Roberts said the bullpen usage is currently not sustainable. However, I don’t know if Andrew Friedman’s computer is aware of this.

The Angels lost 2 of 3 to the lowly Orioles over the weekend, and there’s nothing great to feel about. Mike Trout is still on the IL, the offense stinks, and the pitching is in shambles. To add insult to injury, Griffin Canning, who was struggling with the Angels, is off to a phenomenal start with the Mets. He’s 5-1 with a 2.36 ERA. I was told this guy just didn’t have it with the Halos, and could not be turned around. Well it turns out that if you have some decent player development, many of these guys can actually become good players. Imagine how great Reid Detmers could be if he had some decent player development around him. Arte Moreno and his lack of investment in these areas will continue to be a problem.

Finally, I don’t know what’s taking so long for the rams to trade for Jalen Ramsey. I know he has a big contract, but it should be done by now. The fact it is not makes me think it’s just not going to happen. That makes me think Les Snead has something else up his sleeve like maybe a
Tre’Davious White or another veteran cornerback. Stay tuned!

May 5, 2025

It was a very rough week last week for LA sports teams, starting with the Lakers. They were eliminated by the Timberwolves in 5 games, and there is much blame to go around. The most glaring issue is the Lakers lack of size. The size they had was completely ineffective when it was out there. There’s no way Jaxton Hayes is going to come back to this team after Redick gave up on him. However, the Lakers need to use their picks and expiring contracts to get themselves both a more athletic and effective big man, as well as some versatile wings who can defend. As for the stars, Luka needs to get in better shape, and at least show me some desire to play defense. Nobody is saying he has to be Scottie Pippen, but he needs to at least put an effort in and not get blown by on every other possession. Austin didn’t have a great series, but some of that may be injury. He’s still an excellent #3 option and I probably wouldn’t trade him, unless a transcendent level star was coming back in return. Then there’s Lebron, who had some elite moments in this series, but you have to remember, he played nearly the entire game in game 4, so he didn’t have much left in the tank after that. It wouldn’t matter though because he sprained his MCL, so he wouldn’t have been able to play after that. JJ Redick will learn from this that you can’t simply play 5 or 6 guys in the playoffs. You can’t just give up on dudes like Jaxton Hayes and Gabe Vincent. I expect that as a coach he will get better as well. In the meantime, he can think about that while he’s in Cancun.

The Lakers will be joined in Cancun by the Clippers, who got crushed in game 7 by the Nuggets. The Clips chose to let the Denver role players try and beat them, which wasn’t a bad strategy, but when that didn’t work they basically gave up. It’s really a shame that such a close series ended up with a blowout in the final game. James Harden had another terrible elimination game, which is tough to swallow after he played well for a good chunk of the series. He’s shooting 39% from the field in his last 13 elimination games and his teams have gone just 2-11 in that stretch. In a lot of ways the Clippers overachieved this season though. Kawhi slowly ramped up and started looking elite at the end. Harden played well for long stretches, and Ivica Zubac showed he can be one of the better starting big men in the league. The problem is all that went right, and they lost in the 1st round to a team that hired a new coach a couple of weeks ago. Would they be better with a full season of Kawhi? Maybe but who’s to say that his knees can hold up for a full season. That’s always the issue with the Clips.

To the ice, where the Kings and their fans have to be frustrated. They were eliminated by the Oilers for the 4th straight season. This nonsense has gone on for the length of one entire Presidential Term! This loss is a major indictment on the Kings coaching staff and their front office. The Kings had a 2-0 series lead, and should have gone back to LA with a 3-0 or at least 3-1 lead. They failed to realize they cannot play the same way against the Oilers that they play against everybody else. They sat back and didn’t attack, the Oilers gained more confidence, and ultimately prevailed by overwhelming the Kings with their skill. The series was littered with poor coaching decisions by Hiller, especially with his horrible coaches challenge in game 3, which completely changed the momentum of the series. Brandt Clarke and Jordan Spence were very effective in this series, yet Clarke’s minutes were always reduced, and Spence was even taken out of the lineup one game. Meanwhile, Drew Doughty performed nowhere near the $11 million salary he is earning with the Kings. The real issue now is there is no accountability. Rob Blake and Luc Robitaille have been in their current roles for 8 years. Dean Lombardi won two Stanley Cups and made the conference finals, yet was fired after missing the playoffs two of the next 3 years. So why do Blake, Robitaille, and Hiller get a pass for not making it past the 1st round for 4 straight years? It’s a frustrating time for Kings fans.

The Dodgers took 2 out of 3 from the Braves over the weekend in Atlanta, and they are still clinging to the best record in baseball by 1/2 game over the Padres. It’s a bummer to see Tommy Edman go on the injured list, but not surprising. When Dave Roberts says he expects Edman to be in the lineup tomorrow, you can expect Edman to be on the IL, and that’s exactly what happened. It’s great that Hye Seong Kim is now on the Big League roster, but why should he be sitting on the bench when Michael Conforto and Chris Taylor are hitting like little leaguers every day? The Dodgers have about 6 guys in their lineup that are dominating at the plate, and the other 3 you just never know what you are going to get from them. There’s till plenty of time to sort that out, but the real question among that group is if Max Muncy will figure it out. He’s still hitting only .186 on the season. Dustin May can be a really good pitcher, but he’s going to need some time to figure things out with his new “sweeper pitch” that will keep him healthy, but will take time to be effective. At least Tony Gonsolin is back on the mound, giving them another reliable starter for the time being.

I didn’t think it could get worse for the Halos since you last read MMC, but it did. They lost 5 of 6 games last week, and are just 2-8 in their last 10 games. The have been outscored by 64 runs, which is their worst mark through the first 33 games of a season in franchise history. Since April 11th, they’ve been outscored by 73 runs, which is the worst in the majors. When you’re run differential is that bad it’s simple: you can’t hit and you can’t pitch. Now Mike Trout is back on the IL with a bone bruise in his knee. The only good news for the Halos is that ticket prices are super cheap if you want to see a baseball game.