June 11, 2024
I’m disappointed to hear that Danny Hurley is not taking the Laker job offer, but I’m incredibly impressed the Lakers tried. Their offer and vision was more than I would have ever expected from the Lakers, who typically go through coaches the way we go through underwear. For those of you Twitter heads criticizing the fact the offer was “only $70 million”, that would have made Hurley a top 5 paid coach in the league. This for a guy who has never coached a day in his life in the NBA, and the Lakers are being cheap? I can’t criticize Jeanie and Rob for that. One problem however, is that the perception of the Lakers head coaching job is that it’s not as great as it used to be. So now what? There really are not any big names available, so you’re probably looking at a JJ Redick hodge-podge type of staff put together, with hopefully some experienced assistant coaches. At this point its kind of like going back to your ex after it didn’t work out with the girl you left her for. She knows she was second choice, so it’s going to be an awkward conversation. In this case though, whoever the Lakers get as their next coach is probably going to feel like they are just a coach for the remainder of the Lebron James era in LA, and nothing beyond that.
As for the Clippers, it’s amazing to think Ty Lue got $14 million a year. It wasn’t that long ago Ty Lue was considered just a coach for Lebron. Suddenly, he goes to the Clippers, and he’s regarded as one of the best coaches in the league, and now paid like it. The truth is usually somewhere in between. Is he a good coach? Yes. If he one of the best coaches in the league? Ok probably not. However, he is certainly paid like one now. Now the Clippers next issue is figuring out how to keep Paul George, yet staying under first apron. So far, it’s not going that great, but we’ll find out a few weeks from now what the outcome is.
Bad news Laker fans. The Celtics look like they are well on their way to their 18th championship, which would give them one more than the Lakers. Boston took a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals against the Mavericks. Luke Doncic is still balling, but Kyrie Irving has disappeared like Hodini, and the Dallas role players don’t look anything like they did in the first 3 rounds of the playoffs. The Celtics aren’t even getting great performances of Jayson Tatum, but they are so deep it hasn’t mattered so far. However, I do love the fact that both Caitlin Clark and the Laker coaching search is getting talked about more than the Celtics right now. It just goes to show you how much relevancy the Lakers have in the NBA.
Speaking of Caitlin Clark, the WNBA is really blowing it, and so did the Olympic Team. The best thing they could have done for the Olympic team is put Clark on it. They would have gotten tons of people to watch their games that otherwise wouldn’t. As someone who is going to the Olympics, I can tell you I would have gone to one of their games if she was playing. Instead, I have no interest now. The players apparently got together and thought it would be a bad idea to have her on the team because her fans wouldn’t like that she wasn’t going to get a lot of minutes. Oh so now we are making decisions based on whether or not you’re going to hurt the fans feelings? These women are so jealous of Caitlin Clark it’s disgusting. She’s bring relevancy to a sport that nobody would otherwise give a crap about. The sooner these players can appreciate that the better off they are going to be, along with their sport.
The Dodgers took 2 out of 3 against the Yankees over the weekend in Bronx. That sounds pretty good doesn’t it? Well yes, but their flaws were still on display, and had they not been, it could have easily been a sweep. The situational hitting for this team remains atrocious. They may have erupted for 11 runs in Saturday’s win, and got by with some crafty execution on Friday, but they were only 2-11 with runners in scoring position on Sunday. When you’re facing elite pitching in the playoffs, you have to figure out how to manufacture runs, and not wait for the long bomb. This amazing looking lineup is feast or famine. The defense could also use a boost too, as we saw with Andy Pages not being able to make a key play in center field last night. That’s probably because the Dodgers best outfielder is playing in the infield. The good news is that both the starting pitching and bullpen look great. However, the Dodgers need to find some good contact hitting bats that are good defenders before the trade deadline.
The Angels on the other hand lost 2 of 3 to the Astros at the Big A. They remain in last place in the AL West, and have the 4th worst record in baseball. If this team doesn’t trade the likes of Tyler Anderson, Luis Rengifo, and Taylor Ward before the trade deadline, they are completely unserious about building this team into anything remotely successful. Arte Moreno has reportedly not given Perry Minasian the green light to blow up the team at the deadline, and I really can’t imagine why. This team is terrible, and they badly need to re-stock their farm system with talent, since it is one of the worst in baseball. Of course even if they do that, they have terrible player development, so making those prospects successful is a whole different problem.
Finally, the Florida Panthers have a 1-0 lead over the Oilers after Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals. This series feels like a coin toss, but if there’s one thing I’m sick of hearing, it’s the idea that the LA Kings should feel better about themselves because they lost to a team that is now in the finals. Look, you lost. You lost to the same team for 3 straight years. It should tell you that what you are doing just isn’t working and you need to do something completely different. It seems obvious to me, but unfortunately, I don’t think the Kings see it this way.
