Monday Morning Coffee

June 26, 2017

The Lakers have announced their plan.  That plan sounds a lot like the old plan, but with a few key differences.  Mostly that it’s being executed by Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka.  Generally, trading away a productive young player like D’Angelo Russell just to get rid of a bad contract isn’t good business.  However, Magic and Pelinka didn’t join the Lakers to wait five years to win.  They can afford to take risks.  The Lakers plan on coming to the free agent bargaining table with room for two max free agent next summer.  That’s something the previous regime did only once in the last four summers, and it was last summer when they were coming off their worst year.  Magic and Pelinka also know how to play the back room game with free agents, interacting with player agents year round.  Ultimately, the success of the plan will depend on whether or not Lebron, Paul George, or Russell Westbrook will sign here in 2018.  In any case, the Lakers’ real championship aspirations will depend on whether or not Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram can become superstars.  Lonzo can’t go wrong when he looks like……

The big story surrounding the Clippers is the fact that they were shopping DeAndre Jordan.  Everyone seems to be under the impression that this was done because they might be looking to rebuild, or blow up the core.  What all those nerdy salary cap experts realize is that they were doing this to see how they might be able to gain more financial flexibility to sign Lebron James in 2018.  That’s probably why Chris Paul will re-sign, along with 205 million other reasons.  In the meantime though, Paul is going to act like that girl who just became single for the first time in a few years, flirting with every guy at every bar and restaurant, acting like she’s got serious game.  Only when the fun of the flirtation is over, she’ll end up back with her ex-boyfriend.

As for other NBA news that broke last week, Dwight Howard has changed teams again! This guy is getting passed around the NBA more than a Kardashian.  At this rate he’s going to be finishing his career in the WNBA.  Hawks’ General Manager Travis Schlenk said they had other offers for Dwight but that was the best offer.  The best offer? You had to acquire one of the worst contracts in the NBA to get rid of Dwight.  What were the other offers? To be physically abused? The incompetence of some NBA organizations is amazing.  The Cavs have made the finals for three straight years, then they decided to fire their General Manager and try to replace him with somebody that doesn’t have experience. Then there’s Phil Jackson who has found a way to make the Knicks an even bigger joke than they were.  You have to wonder if he’s actually drinking on the job, or smoking weed.  We know he’s sleeping on the job according to a top 15 prospect who worked out in front of him.  Check out the latest update to his Wiki page…..

The Dodgers are on fire right now.  It’s starting to feel like not even Andrew Friedman’s mistakes can stop them these days.  However, they did get some horrible news last week.  Julio Urias, the organization’s most promising young pitcher, ruptured the anterior capsule in his left shoulder.  He will undergo surgery and miss not only the rest of 2017, but most of 2018 as well.  This is much worse than Tommy John surgery folks.  The sample of pitchers who have undergone this surgery is very small, and those who have had it have been finished with baseball career shortly after.  Sadly, the Dodgers will have to assume that he will not be a part of their future plans unless a pleasant surprise occurs.  Urias had the potential to be the frontline starter the Dodgers needed behind Clayton Kershaw come October.  As great as Alex Wood and Brandon McCarthy look now, come playoff time, I wouldn’t trust them to tell me what they wanted on their pizza.  Unfortunately, the Dodgers will have no choice but to trust them if they have World Series aspirations.

As for the Angels, the fact they are still in the Wild Card Race is impressive.  They haven’t had Mike Trout for weeks, and they haven’t had a pitching staff all season.  Somehow they have the 6th best ERA in the American League, mostly due to an overachieving bullpen.  Apparently when Mike Trout signed his last contract in 2014, he sought a lifetime contract from the Halos.  At that point Arte Moreno declined, but one has to wonder if Moreno would re-consider at this point.  That depends how Moreno wants to run his franchise.  If the Angels aren’t ready to win by 2020, when Trout is a free agent, then they would be wise to reboot the franchise with a boat load of prospects, rather than commit to Trout until he is 40 years old.  However, if Moreno is primarily interested in just filling the seats and getting 3 million people coming to the ballpark every year, which it seems is his only goal, then sign him up to the lifetime deal.  As great as Mike Trout is, one player in baseball only takes you so far.

Many fans of Breaking Bad have been invested in Better Call Saul for the last three years.  Spoiler alert if you plan on watching it so read no further if that is the case.  If you loved Breaking Bad and haven’t taken the plunge into Better Call Saul, then you need to immediately.  The show just finished its third season last week, and is all about the little nuances that are connected to Breaking Bad, which gives you an even greater appreciation for both shows.  However, the one storyline that keeps us coming back for more is why did Jimmy end being the shady character that he turned out to be? Most of us have a feeling that is has to do with his brother’s death, Chuck, who we think just died in the last episode.  The suspense of what happened to Kim Wexler is also killing everyone.  Since there is no Kim Wexler in Breaking Bad, one of two things had to have happened: either she died, or Jimmy’s behavior destroyed her career so she moved away.  Since this show is so dramatic, and since she started to display reckless behavior in season 3, I think we’re headed for a very sad death to end the show.

Finally, the Bachelorette was back last week, and get ready for another two episodes this week.  It was only a matter of time before the producers brought race into this drama.  Sure enough, Lee is clearly a racist, confronting Eric and now Kenny, trying to rat them out and get them kicked off the show.  Of course leave it to Dean to call out Lee for his racism in the most classy way possible.  Knowing Rachel though, she’ll probably cut Kenny for his inability to spell “champagne”, and Eric for his inability to spell “facade”.  Dean and Peter seem like locks for the final four.  How the hell is Iggy still on the show? That guy never talks to Rachel, other than to snitch on some other guys in the house.  I guess Rachel likes white guys and guys that look like Shaka Zulu.  Josiah is definitely growing on me.  He’s got a chance after his spelling bee win.

 

 

 

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