June 23rd, 2025

Congratulations to the Oklahoma City Thunder on wining the NBA Championship last night. It’s a shame that Tyrese Haliburton got injured and it would have been interesting to see what happened had he been able to play, but don’t be that guy who discredits the Thunder. NBA history is filled with these “what ifs” especially when it comes to injuries in the finals. If you’re going to play that game, you might as well put an asterisk next to every NBA Championship. The Thunder were the very best team all season long, and having home court advantage was ultimately the difference. Why? Because your role players end up playing better at home. Tyrese Haliburton scored 9 points in the 1st quarter and didn’t play the rest of the game. That’s more points combined than Myles Turner, Obi Toppin, and Aaron Nesmith COMBINED. It’s actually amazing that Indiana was in the game for as long as they were, and it was in large part due to their defense and their bench. SGA also completed an amazing season so hats off to him. He’s just the 4th player in NBA history to be a scoring champion, regular season MVP, and Finals MVP in the same season. Only Shaq, Jordan, and Kareem have done it previously. Yes I know you all want to cook the Clippers this morning for trading him, and the Lakers for not re-signing Alex Caruso, but we don’t need to re-hash those storylines. Every team makes good moves and bad ones. As for OKC, I’m pretty sure they don’t have any clubs there, so these guys will probably be celebrating at TGI Fridays for the next few days.

That came out of nowhere! The Lakers have a new majority owner, Mark Walter. I don’t know anyone that is unhappy about this. If I told you the Lakers were going to be sold, perhaps the first person that would come to mind that you would want to buy them would be Mark Walter. More than anything, Walter is going to modernize the way this team does business. It’s not like you can outspend everyone in the NBA just because you are wealthier. However, they can build an organization that has more people in the front office and scouting department, which can’t hurt. As for Jeanie Buss, I may be in the minority here, but I think she did a better job than she is getting credit for since her father passed away. She successfully took control of the franchise from Jim, and positioned the franchise to get Lebron, resurrecting them back to a championship in 2020. She and Rob Pelinka also have re-positioned the franchise with their next superstar to build around after Lebron with Luka. Yes, there were some decisions that have been made and people in her circle who’s credibility can be questioned, but for the most part, she has been successful. The selling of the Lakers isn’t sad. We can look back fondly on Jeanie and the Buss Family, but also realize it’s time to move on and modernize the franchise. I’m also not convinced that she is truly going to be running the team for the next few years. I heard this with Mark Cuban before, and we know that’s not true because he couldn’t stop the Luka trade. Suddenly though, Rob Pelinka will need to be a lot more comfortable having more people with influence around him, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

As for the off-season, it’s fair to say at this point that Giannis isn’t going to be traded, so the Lakers shouldn’t have any wild ideas about trading Austin Reaves to build a team around 3 max salary stars. The Luka, Lebron, Austin trio is as good a trio in the NBA. However, they should focus on trying to acquire 2 big men. A starting level big like Nic Claxton, revisiting Mark Williams, or Robert Williams. They should then see if they can get a Brook Lopez or Clint Capela on a minimum deal, otherwise they can look to bring Jaxton Hayes back. Then they’ll need some wings that can defend. Bringing back DFS makes tons of sense, but they’ll need to hope guys like Nickeil Alexander Walker can be had for a bargain. The free agent class is weak altogether, but the Lakers need some effective role players. a couple of big men that can rebound, protect the rim, and catch lobs. A couple of wings who can defend and shoot reasonably. Keep an eye on the likes of Marcus Smart if he’s bought out. He can still defend, and would provide the Lakers with an edge on the perimeter they haven’t had in a while.

Some of you may have noticed that Lebron went on his podcast with Steve Nash last week and talked about “ring culture” and how negative he thought it was. He is basically saying why don’t players without rings get more respect? Look, in some respects he’s right. There are many players like Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, and John Stockton that aren’t respected enough. However, in other respects, he needed to qualify his statement. If he had said, “I don’t agree with the mentality, but it bothered me enough to create a super team in Miami, and then another super team in Cleveland to battle that perception,” I think it would have been more respected. Now he just looks like a hypocrite trying to change his narrative. Of course that led to the likes of Tracy McGrady going on First Take and saying he agreed with that, and that if he had played with someone like Shaq he would have rings. Let’s be clear here for those who went off on Twitter: T-MAC isn’t saying he is better than Kobe. He just said he never had the same opportunity as him. Of course any player can say that, but that’s just what it is. T-MAC was phenomenal, but the man had plenty of great teammates and teams he was on that couldn’t win in the playoffs. That doesn’t give me any confidence he could succeed with Shaq. As for the Kobe fans, and I am one: relax. No need to burn anyone’s house down. I don’t believe for a second that T-Mac would intentionally disrespect Kobe.

It just so happens that Kevin Durant was traded to the Rockets yesterday. KD is still a great player, but he has been passed around the NBA like a Kardashian the past few years. Had he just stayed in Golden State he would have collected another ring or two, maybe won another MVP, and continued to age gracefully while enhancing his legacy. Instead, he has been subscribing to “ring culture” because teenagers on Twitter think his legacy is trash after leaving Oklahoma City. Not sure why he cares. He left because he wanted to win. He won and he was a big part of that dynasty. Instead, he’s been trying to re-create it in Brooklyn, Phoenix, and now Houston. The sad part is, the Rockets probably screwed up their chemistry and defense a little by trading for him. KD will make them more dangerous offensively, but this isn’t 2016. Nobody in the West is scared of Houston after they made this move.

Switching over to the NHL, where the Florida Panthers won their 2nd straight Stanley Cup last week. They defeated the Edmonton Oilers in six games. As a Kings fan, it’s a slight consolation the Oilers lost, so they don’t just shrug their shoulders and say “well we lost to the Oilers and they are the Cup Champions”. Nonsense. The Kings need change to be true cup contenders. They made some by bringing in Ken Holland as their new GM, but they really should change their coach, and their overall offensive approach. It’s not a personnel issue. However, my opinion on that would change if by chance Connor McDavid becomes available. If he does, and there’s rumors out there he might consider a move, the Kings would be a viable landing spot. They should also send everything to get him if necessary. By everything, I mean Brandt Clark, Jordan Spence, Quintin Byfield, their wives and girlfriends, multiple 1st round picks, and one of their top goalie prospects. The Kings should even let the Oilers touch the cup if the win it.

The Dodgers big stretch against their division rivals is in the books, and they certainly did pretty well. They emerged from it with the best record in the NL, a 3.5 game lead in the NL West over the Giants, and perhaps a tad closer to getting their pitching staff healthy. Their lineup is deep enough to keep exploding like they did over the weekend. I never imagined that Andy Pages would turn into the player that he has, and Max Muncy is suddenly looking like an MVP caliber player he was a couple of years ago. Dave Roberts informed us that Hyeseong Kim has earned more playing time. I guess he didn’t tell Andrew Friedman’s computer that, because Michael Conforto is still playing regularly with his .165 batting average. I’m not sure what’s going on with Mookie Betts, but he’s too good of a player to not regress to the mean and start hitting better. By his standards not the best, but by MLB standards, he’s still pretty good. I’m sure all the Dodger fans haven’t been sleeping worried about what Manny Machado was going to do to them if Fernando Tatis got injured the other night. The next giveaway at Dodger Stadium when the Padres are in town should be a candle for everyone to light! That series was one giant troll job with the Dodgers starting Ohtani in basically a rehab start, followed by two more bullpen games. It’s no wonder the Dodgers are publicly saying they are not their real rivals.

Lastly, there’s the Angels who are doing the most Angel things. They take 3 of 4 from the Yankees, and then lose 2 of 3 to the Astros. They are not only driving their fans crazy, they are driving their Manager into having his own health issues, now having to leave the team indefinitely. Prayers up for Ron Washington. The Halos are only 2.5 games out of the Wild Card, but they have about 8 teams they need to jump over to get there. The reality of it is, this team needs to be sellers at the deadline. They had the chance last year to sell, and they really didn’t do much. The right thing to do is to unload Tyler Anderson, Taylor Ward, and even Kenley Jansen. Knowing Arte Moreno and Perry Minasian, they will be doing everything they can to convince you that they are “going for it”. In reality, they are going for nothing but the bottom of the league.

June 16, 2025

We have to start with the Dodgers, who are navigating this difficult stretch of their schedule quite nicely so far. They took 2 of 3 against the Padres, followed by another 2 of 3 against the Giants. That gives them a 2 game lead in the division with the Padres in town for 4 games at the Ravine starting tonight. The big story though is Shohei Ohtani pitching his first game for the Dodgers tonight. It’s exciting and I look forward to seeing him take the mound, but I stand by what I said before. This isn’t necessary. His bat is too valuable to risk losing due to a pitching injury. Hopefully it’s not more than 60 pitches. We shouldn’t be surprised though. Dave Roberts said he would pitching after the All-Star break, which usually means “screw it, let’s start him tomorrow!” It was great to see Clayton Kershaw pitch well and get closer to 3,000 strikeouts, but I certainly hope the Dodgers aren’t counting on him to start the first couple of games of a playoff series. I’d be worried about Dustin May as well, who has already pitched more innings than ever before in his life. I don’t understand what’s going on with Roki Sasaki. Why is he essentially shutting himself down for the season without knowing why? This seems more like a confidence issue than anything else. In any case, the Dodgers should plan on trying to find one innings eating starter and one high leverage bullpen piece at the deadline. Blake Snell sounds like he has a good chance to come back, but never hold your breath on Tyler Glasnow. You’re better off buying a lottery ticket.

Speaking of the Dodgers, I cannot believe the stupidity of Dylan Hernandez in the LA Times the other day. Hernandez wrote an article on how wrong it is for the Dodgers to not have commented on the ICE raids taking place in Southern California, and the protests in response to that. Sorry Dylan, but in case you’ve learned nothing from the past 5 years, sports franchises, including the Dodgers need to stick to sports. If you want politics, go turn on Fox News, CNN, or whatever other bs you wanna hear. Just ask the NBA how that worked out for them when they went political 5 years ago? They are still trying to recover from it today. Fortunately, Dave Roberts is a lot more sensible than Hernandez, because when he was asked by the media about it, he said he doesn’t want to comment on things he doesn’t anything about it. That’s smart, and the proper thing to say. Even Andrew Friedman’s computer would tell you that!

As for the Angels, they got swept by the lowly Orioles to fall another 7.5 games back in the division, and 4 games under .500. This team makes you think for a hot second they have figured something out, then they revert right back to mediocrity. The real question is if they will be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline. Taylor Ward, Tyler Anderson, and Kenley Jansen look like some nice pieces that a contender could really utilize in a pennant chase. I think the Halos would be wise to give them up in exchange for some young talent with upside. Unfortunately knowing Perry Minasian, he will pretend like he’s a real player and not deal any of them, keeping this team locked into mediocrity. After the Giants stole Rafael Devers from the Red Sox yesterday, it’s clear that the Halos have the wrong Minasian brother. They should really be calling the Giants to see if they can trade one GM for another!

To the NBA, where we’ve got game 5 of the Finals tonight in Oklahoma City. This series looked like it was there for the taking from the Pacers, but now it looks like OKC has all the momentum back. The Pacers had game 4, and could have put the Thunder on the ropes by taking a 3-1 lead. Frankly, OKC didn’t even play that well, but SGA found a way to take his team home and get them a hard fought victory on the road. Regardless of what the ratings say, this has been really good basketball. I wouldn’t even be surprised if we got 7 games, which would be great for the NBA at this point.

We might even get a 7 game series in the Stanley Cup Final, if the Oilers can win on the road tomorrow night against the Panthers. Right now, it just feels like the Panthers have a little more depth and consistency from their role players, which the Oilers were getting earlier in the playoffs. Everyone is talking about Mitch Marner’s free agency or even Sam Bennett’s. However, what they should be talking about is Brad Marchand. Give that guy a one-year deal for $10 million and he will score you some tough playoff goals, while giving you the grit you need. Are you listening LA Kings?

There’s already been some NBA transactions while the NBA Finals are going on, and it does impact the Lakers. Steven Adams from the Houston Rockets re-signed for 3 years and $39 million. Adams is a tough rebounding center, who re-established his value this past season, but $13 million seems like a lot for that kind of production. However, it also suggests that the Lakers may not be able to lure the likes of a Clint Capela or Brooke Lopez to be their starting center next year, only offering a tax payer mid-level salary of $5.7 million. They only have that plus their veteran minimum contracts to offer. Keep in mind the Lakers need a starting center, and two wings at minimum. Ideally, free agency would get them two of their three needs, and they could get the third need via trade. You can forget about the Giannis trade rumors though. It’s clear that he won’t be requesting a trade, because he would have done it already. Plus if Desmond Bain is worth 4 1st round picks, Giannis would require 7 picks and the mineral rights to your state.

Finally, we are still on Jalen Ramsey watch with the Rams. The Rams need a cornerback, and the Dolphins need to get rid of his salary. Derion Kendrick was waived over the weekend, which now brings the Rams salary cap space is $22 million. Jalen Ramsey is about $16.6 million against the cap, so not sure what the hold up here is? Draft compensation? Trying to get Ramsey to further restructure his contract? Is Les Snead demanding some Joe’s Stone Crabs as part of the deal? This deal needs to get done for both sides sooner than later, especially with mini camps here.

June 9, 2025

Chris Paul just let out a secret last week that really isn’t much of a secret. He prefers to live in LA with his family if he’s going to continue his career. Of course that leads everyone to ask the question if the Lakers or Clippers would sign him. Unfortunately, this isn’t 2011, and CP3 isn’t the best point guard in basketball. However, Paul can still be an effective player in the right situation. For the Lakers, it’s more of a question of who do you want: Gabe Vincent or Chris Paul? Let’s assume that Gabe Vincent is packaged in a trade for a center. That means you need a backup point guard. Even though he’s 40 years old, Paul was actually better and more reliable than Gabe Vincent. He also played 82 games. Vincent has knee issues that flare up here and there. If Chris Paul is coming for the minimum, you would absolutely do it. The Clippers on the other hand have more depth and options than the Lakers do, so I don’t see much of a need or place for CP3 on that team. The bottom line though is the Lakers real needs are at center and wing. If there is a place for CP3 then great, but he’s certainly not a need at the moment. But hey, at that point they might as well call Dwayne Wade and Carmelo, and see if they can get the Banana Boat crew together!

To baseball where the Dodgers have been scuffling. They salvaged a game yesterday in their series against the Cardinals thanks to the brilliance of Clayton Kershaw, but they’ve been looking rather average otherwise. The starting pitching hasn’t been there, largely due to injury, and they are far too dependent on their bullpen. You can add Tony Gonsolin to to the pile of injuries as well, and it’s especially concerning because he has elbow discomfort. I don’t see why the Dodgers don’t bring up Bobby Miller and let him start. He’s looked better of late. They are basically down to Yamamoto, May, and Kershaw as their only starters. After that it’s just patchwork bullpen guys and spot starters. The Boys in Blue are clinging to a one game lead in the NL West, and they have a huge week. They’ve got 3 with the Padres, followed by another 3 with the Giants. This is by far the toughest stretch of the season for the team, so it’s a bad time to not have much starting pitching available. Hope the Dodgers are planning on scoring a lot of runs this week.

Then there’s the Angels who aren’t quite good enough or bad enough. Coming into Sunday they were 5-5 in their last 10, 3.5 games out of the last wild card, and 5 games out of 1st in the AL West. The good news is that Mike Trout is playing, and the likes of Zach Neto, Nolan Schanuel, and Logan O’Hopppe are looking very solid. The bad news? There just isn’t enough talent around them to make a dent in the standings, especially in the bullpen and outfield. Perry Minasian went for another dumpster diving move yesterday, picking up LaMonte Wade Jr, who was designated for assignment by the Giants. They also aren’t bad enough right now to be in the hunt for a top draft pick, like they have this year. It’s simply not much to be excited about, other than some cheap ticket prices.

These NCAA NIL rules change every few months. It’s getting as hard to keep up with as news on the tariffs or whatever drama Trump and his admin are creating. The latest is that schools can now pay athletes directly. Up to $20 million. At the same time, NIL deals can still happen, but those deals can now happen with boosters who are working more closely with the Universities. UCLA and Martin Jarmond seem to think this will help the school be more competitive with recruitment. Perhaps, but this landscape is really forever changing. It seems to me that eventually we will end up with a players union and collective bargaining. When that happens, College Football and Basketball will essentially be professional sports.

Just as I told you would happen last week, the NBA Finals ratings are awful. And by awful, I mean the lowest rated in the last quarter century. Casual fans don’t like small markets. They didn’t even know Oklahoma City had a team, and they don’t know who SGA and Tyrese Haliburton are. That’s the problem with not having big markets in the NBA Finals, contrary to what Adam Silver and the owners will tell you. With that being said, real NBA fans have enjoyed the first two games, especially game 1 with Haliburton’s heroics. OKC laid the hammer down last night, but I’m sure the Pacers have to feel good getting a split on the road. I initially thought it would be OKC in 5 games, but we may in fact be in for a longer series.

Meanwhile, the Stanley Cup Final has been outstanding so far through the first two games. The Oilers can truly overwhelm people with their skill. They have done that at times so far in the first two games with the Panthers. Still, the Panthers are gritty team with a lot of depth. This once again feels like a coin flip of a series that is going 7 games. I’m still taking the Panthers by the slimmest of margins.

June 2, 2025

The Dodgers may have lost to the Yankees last night at the Ravine, but they still took 2 out of 3 against the Bronx Bombers over the weekend. Let’s start with the good. Max Muncy is back! Whatever company gave his those new glasses clearly has its new spokesman. The haters that wanted him DFA’d a few weeks ago are in shambles. The offense is clearly fine, and they did all that without Mookie Betts over the weekend. However, after Freddie got hurt in the shower earlier, and Mookie got hurt from a nightstand, should we next worry about Shohei getting injured cutting sashimi in the kitchen? At this point, this season is playing out a lot like the last one. The Dodgers are contending like we expected them to, and their pitching staff has all kinds of injuries like we expected. Losing Evan Phillips for the season really hurts because he was one of their best high leverage relievers. The bottom line is that come the deadline, this team will need some kind of pitching reinforcements. Stop the Paul Skenes pipe dream, because you have a better chance of winning the Power Ball than that happening. However, they need a Jack Flaherty type that can eat innings, and ideally another high leverage bullpen piece. By July we will know if Sasaki, Snell, and Glasnow have a realistic chance of returning. I have a feeling at least one of them wont. The pitching won’t be easy to get, but Andrew Friedman has proven to be resourceful when he needs to be.

The Angels went on this great run we were talking about last week, then they remembered they were the Angels. They’ve lost 7 of their last 10, and are now 6 games below .500. The offense has been brutal. Chris Taylor showed up, and looked like the same Chris Taylor the Dodgers have seen the last few years. At least Mike Trout is slowly looking better, but hopefully he can manage to stay healthy. Meanwhile, the Halos do have the #2 pick in the upcoming baseball amateur draft, and they’ve been scouting Seth Hernandez. He’s thought by most scouts to be an ace pitcher, and that’s exactly what they need. However, Angels fans should be concerned that the organizations lack of players development will wreck this guys career. It doesn’t matter how many promising young players they bring in. If they can’t fix the development program with their franchise, they will never be successful.

To the NBA, where Lebron is rumored to be opting into his contract for this coming season at $52 million. I don’t know why any of you are busy wasting time speculating that he could leave the Lakers because he won’t. However, what I don’t understand is why everyone is so adamant that Lebron needs to take a pay cut? He made 2nd team All-NBA last season as a 40 year old. So why would he earn less? Also, he brings the NBA so much money and the Lakers, so $52 million is completely justified. For those of you saying “well if he wants to win he will take a pay cut”, he isn’t going to take a pay cut so the Lakers can bring in Clint Capela. However, if they traded for say, Giannis, and then they needed to fill out the rest of their roster, then maybe he would consider taking a cut.

As for the Clippers, now that SGA and the Thunder are in the NBA Finals, everyone is roasting the Clips over their trade with Thunder back in 2019 that got them Paul George. I have to say though, at the time, nobody was thinking this was a bad trade for the Clips. You all sat here for a year and jerked off Steve Ballmer, Kawhi, PG, and the entire organization, and told me how elite their team was. Now that it didn’t work out the way you thought it would and led to a championship, you’re criticizing. Honestly, you can’t blame the Clips for what they did. They had a great team on paper, but they came up short in 2020, and Kawhi was never reliable health wise. Sometimes you take your shot and it works out, and sometimes it doesn’t. However, credit to them for at least taking their shot.

Speaking of the NBA, the league owners say they wanted parity. That sounds great until you get an OKC vs Indiana in the finals, and your ratings are a disaster. Real NBA fans know this will be an entertaining series, even though I’ve got OKC winning in 5 games. However, the league does want casuals to tune in for ratings. Casuals don’t like small markets. They like big markets like LA, New York, Chicago, and they like super stars. SGA is a really great player, but don’t try to name him a super star. Same goes for Tyrese Haliburton. Whether you haters like it or not, the NBA needs the big markets, and their big stars in the finals.

I don’t know about you but I am going to be driving the bandwagon for the Florida Panthers to win the Stanley Cup again for the 2nd year in a row over the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers have the greatest player in the world in Connor McDavid, but I don’t just want the Panthers to win because the Oilers knocked out the Kings for the last 4 years in the 1st round. If the Oilers win the Stanley Cup it will make the Kings organization shrug their shoulders like that Elmo gif, and just say “oh well we tried”, rather than look themselves in the mirror and understand what’s fundamentally wrong with their playoff approach. That’s exactly why you should want the Florida Panthers to win this series.

I am completely distraught over the mere suggestion that USC may be looking to end their agreement with Notre Dame to play annually. Lincoln Riley should be fired if he decided to end this agreement. I fail to see what the issue is. USC is worried about it’s pathway to the College Football Playoff. However, you know that Notre Dame is going to be a preseason top 10-12 team in most years, so that can only help your chances if they win. USC says it’s worried about travel. You moved to the Big Ten! You knew travel was going to be an issue. What’s one more trip against a team that can help your strength of schedule? Also, for those of you who think USC doesn’t need Notre Dame, you’re actually completely delusional.

Finally, why hasn’t Aaron Rodgers signed with the Steelers yet? What a joke. This dude knows he wants to play football this year, but he is acting like a complete primadonaa, and like he’s still the Aaron Rodgers of 10 years ago. Look bro, if you want to take walks in the woods, snort weed off tree branches, and all that nonsense, go right ahead. However, football is serious business, and it looks like you’re much closer to being a content creator than an NFL Quarterback these days. Can you imagine him walking into that locker room after dragging his feet all these months, then acting like he’s going to be the leader of that team? This dude is pure drama.

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.

The Lakers are toast. After a miserable weekend in Minnesota, they are down 3-1 against the Wolves, heading back to LA for Game 5. Game 3 and 4 were there for the taking, but the Lakers kept shooting themselves in the foot. Turnovers, stupid fouls, and ultimately, getting dominated in the paint and on the boards. The lack of a big man in this series is really hurting them against the likes of Naz Reid and Rudy Gobert. This is where the decision to keep Trey Jemision of the playoff roster is a killer. If the Lakers didn’t want to give up Dalton Knecht, then you would hope they would make him a useful playoff contributor. The Lakers played all 5 players the entire 2nd half, and it caught up with Lebron, who didn’t score in the 4th quarter. I think this team can win Game 5, but let’s be honest, winning two more games after that, even if one is at home will be too tall of a task for this group.

Then there’s the Clippers, who suffered a devastating loss to the Nuggets in Game 4. The Clips looked like they were on the verge of taking a commanding 3-1 lead. I still like their chances to win the series in 7 games, for two reasons. First, Kawhi has reminded everyone that he can still ball out, and be one of the best players in basketball. Then there’s James Harden, who has also reminded us that he still has some very good basketball left in him. The Nuggets might have the best player in The Joker, but Jamaal Murray and Michael Porter have shown me that they have their inconsistent moments. For that reason, I would ever so slightly favor the Clips in this one.

What a disastrous weekend for the Kings in Edmonton. Their best of seven series with the Oilers is now tied at 2-2. However, never has a 2-2 series felt like it was more 3-2. The Kings should be up 3-0, or at least 3-1 going back home, but they made some very foolish coaching decision all weekend. On Friday, it was very foolish to challenge that tying goal in the 3rd period, which resulted in them giving up the game-winning goal on a power-play, when they lost the challenge, about 20 seconds later. They also foolishly went into a 1-3-1 prevent defense to protect the lead instead of continuing to attack. They did the same thing last night in the 3rd period, and that cost them the lead. You can’t do that against a team as skilled as Edmonton. You have to keep the pressure on, and if they did, they would have kept scoring. Sure you can argue if Kevin Fiala doesn’t hit the goal post the Kings probably win that game, or if Quinton Byfield clears the puck in the last minute. However, this is about poor strategy. When you shorten your bench to 3 lines and 4 defenseman, you are going to be fatigued playing that way, and the Kings essentially neutralized their depth advantage against the Oilers. I don’t know if the Kings or their fans have more PTSD after that game. Let’s hope it’s just the fans, because I don’t know how the Kings can mentally overcome those two games and still win this series.

I am both surprised, but pleased at the Rams big move on the draft day a few nights ago. The Rams traded their 1st round pick in this years draft, and will have an extra 1st rounder next year. That will give them a great chance to draft a successor to Matthew Stafford in a year where there are a lot of great quarterback draft prospects. They really did approach this draft with house money though, because there weren’t any major needs. Josiah Stewart is a nice addition to an already loaded defensive line. Sean McVay clearly has a vision for a player like Terrance Ferguson in his offense, and Jarquez Hunter is like the second coming up Kyren Williams, so the Rams have even more offensive depth now too. It took the NFL’s help to finally get Chris Paul to a good LA team, but it finally happened. They didn’t draft a cornerback though, which is surprising, but that could mean Jalen Ramsey could be headed back to LA in a trade. That would be a great thing.

As for the Chargers, they did a nice job of getting Justin Herbert some weapons around him. Omarion Hampton gives them a nice running back, and Tre Harrison might finally give them someone who can catch the football. They also did a nice job adding to the defense on the line, and in their secondary. I could easily see the first 5 picks being starters. The Bolts obviously didn’t do a lot in free agency which wasn’t great, but the draft might have actually made up for that if these guys end up being as good as we think they will be. Going from Tom Telesco to Joe Hortiz is like going from a Honda Accord to a Maserati.

Obviously, the talk of the draft was Shadeur Sanders. However, I think the moral of the story here is when he didn’t work out for teams, he was viewed as not good enough to compensate for the headache and drama that he could bring to the table. Plus the worst part about all this for him is that he is now going to an absolutely horrible situation. A very crowded QB room in Cleveland, in a city with terrible weather, and in a division where he has to compete against 2 of the best quarterbacks in the league. He’s also now going to make less money next year than he would have by staying in college. At one point I thought a new Pope was going to get selected before Shadeur was drafted.

The Dodgers took 2 out of 3 from the Pirates over the weekend, which was much needed to keep pace with the Giants in the NL West. Except the bad news is that they lost Tyler Glasnow to a shoulder injury, which at this point is basically a scheduled injury. The odds of this guy getting injured are about as good as the sun rising tomorrow. That means the Boys in Blue are down to three healthy and effective starting pitchers: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki, and Dustin May. Dustin May and Clayton Kershaw can’t get back soon enough. Separately, the Dodgers need to keep an eye on Max Muncy’s production, or lack therof, and Andy Pages’ defense. Pages is hitting, but he needs a GPS just to track down routine fly balls. Suddenly a Nolan Arenado trade might not be that unrealistic if Muncy doesn’t start hitting soon. In the meantime, the Dodgers should really consider bringing up Hyeseong Kim and Dalton Rushing if the bottom of the order can’t be more consistent.

Finally, the Angels have really regressed to being “The Angels” over the last two weeks. They have one guy in their lineup that is hitting over .250 and Tyler Anderson is the only reliable starting pitcher. I have no idea why Reid Detmers is in the bullpen. He’s been one of their best pitchers, and for a team that is desperate for starters, they really need him in their rotation. Mike “Mendoza” Trout still has some pop, but can’t seem to stop striking out. Did you know the Halos have a quality assurance coach? I’ve never felt less assured of quality I’m watching in my life. The Halos are already at the bottom of the AL West.

April 21, 2025

How concerned should we be as Laker fans after losing Game 1 against the T-Wolves at home? Maybe not ready to jump off the Santa Monica pier concerned, but concerned. The Timberwolves were shooting from 3 like they had a bunch of Reggie Millers and Ray Allen’s on their team. That might not be repeatable, but the Lakers still have to defend it better and not give up the corner 3 pointer, or else those opportunities are repeatable. What is going to be a problem though is the Wolves defense. They are an excellent defensive team, and a very physical one too. That proved to be a problem for Lebron and Austin, who were ineffective for long stretches in the first game. The Lakers had the intensity of a team that was just getting some cardio at LA Fitness on a Saturday morning pick up game. One thing I will say though if it makes us feel any better: Lebron and Luka have a history of losing game 1 of a series, and making adjustments later on to win that series. We can only hope that is the case here, but we’ll find out soon enough.

On a different Laker note, I can’t believe that Austin Reaves nor JJ Redick were finalists for Most Improved Player, and Coach of the Year, respectively. At minimum, there should be in the top 3 for those awards, and Redick should really be a strong contender to win it. There’s still enough people that vote on these things that just don’t like the Lakers. You may also not have noticed that Rob Pelinka received an extension and promotion from the Lakers last week. Say what you will him accepting a trade for Luka Doncic, which was presented to him, he still did a great job keeping the negotiations quiet. It’s pretty tough to be the Lakers President and GM in this day and age when most people hate your organization, are jealous of you because of your job, and are looking to screw you in every transaction just because of who you are and represent. Somehow, Rob Pelinka manages to work through all that on a daily basis, and acquire franchise changing players, while building championship contending teams. In case you forgot, he also won a championship as well. The extension is well deserved.

As for the Clippers, they really played very well in long stretches against the Nuggets in game 1, but some careless mistakes did them in and gave them a loss. They had 20 turnovers, including 4 critical ones in the 4th quarter. 11 of them were totally unforced. James Harden might actually be the Clips most consistent player this year, yet he got very careless at times with the ball, including critical moments of game 1. That seems extremely correctable for the Clippers, but they definitely don’t want to come back to LA down 0-2 in the series. Even Kawhi was sloppy with 7 turnovers, despite making a lot of clutch shots with his 22 points. I still like them in this series, but we’ll see if they can clean things up tonight.

Listen guys, of course I want the Kings to beat the Oilers in this best of seven series that starts tonight, but I can’t tell you I’m convinced they can finally do it this year. I know you’re all trying to convince yourself this is the year, but why? The Kings are still of the pack offensive team with a terrible power play. It’s actually even worse than last year statistically. Sure they are great defensively, and so is their goaltending, but the Oilers have always seemed to dismantle that part of their game annually. The Kings are going to need to get some out of this world performances from Quinton Byfield or Andre Kuzmenko to beat Edmonton. To me, the Kings personal is more or less the same, and so is the Oilers. In the last three years, the Oilers have simply met the moment at the critical points in the series, like when the Kings should have taken a 3-1 lead in the series two years ago when they blew a big lead in game 4. If the Kings are going to win the series, they have to come up big when it matters. The Oilers still have the two best players in the world, so it’s hard to see anything changing in that regard. Plus this is probably the year Canada finally wins the Cup because they are going to stick it to us because of the tariffs.

The Dodgers took 2 out of 3 against the Rangers, and really should be feeling pretty good about themselves all things considered. They are tied for the most wins in baseball, are just a 1/2 game back of the Padres for the best record in baseball. That’s pretty good considering that their offensive has had some ups and downs, and we haven’t seen the best from their starting pitching yet. In other words, this team has a much higher ceiling than they’ve shown, yet they are right there where we expect them to be. Speaking of pitching, Yoshinobu Yamamoto is looking like a sure fire Cy Young candidate right now. Every time he gets the ball, he’s lights out. He’s emerging as one of the best pitchers in baseball. Roki Sasaki is also improving every start he makes, which is a great sign. Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow are some injury question marks right now, but reinforcements are likely on the way with Tony Gonsolin and Clayton Kershaw soon after that. This team needs 6 healthy and effective starters at one time. Right now they only have 3. Still, lots to feel good about.

The Dodgers will likely be sending the Angels an Easter Basket, after they took 2 of 3 from the Giants over the weekend. The Halos are tough to figure out right now. They got trounced by the Astros and Rangers, before bouncing back against a Giants team that was playing very well. They are hovering around .500. It would really help them if Mike Trout could figure things out. His power numbers are there with 8 home runs, but he’s hitting just .184 right now and striking out more than Steve Urkel on Prom Night. The Halos are going to play the next 6 games against the struggling Pirates and Twins, which they have to take advantage of before life gets more difficult for them again.

Lots of news around UCLA Football and Basketball this past week! The Football team landed a big fish at quarterback in the transfer portal –
Nico Iamaleava. Iamaleava led the Vols to the College Football Playoff last season, but will not be trying to improve a Bruins team that was just 5-7 in its first year in the Big Ten. How much better does he make them? You would hope that they would at least be a bowl eligible team with him being a signal caller for them. This is great for UCLA, but incredibly fortunate for them. Iamaleava wanted $4 million, but there was no market for him in the portal. He claimed to have wanted a better O-Line and better Wide Receivers, but you can’t possibly look at me with a straight face and tell me that UCLA is better in those areas than the Vols. Nevertheless, the Bruins are the beneficiaries of a situation that landed in their lap, but they will take it and have to be excited!

On the other hand though, they probably aren’t as excited with the basketball news that Aday Mara is leaving the program for Michigan. This is extremely disappointing. There’s a lot of vagueness around his departure though. Mara was showing some real promise as a big man for the Bruins, despite his single digit stats. Much of that had to do with limited playing time, which may be due to conditioning, but also could be due to the fact that him and Mick Cronin just didn’t see eye-to-eye, and didn’t think he was ready. At the end of the day he wanted to play more, but at the same time he admitted his conditioning wasn’t completely there. Cronin didn’t see him as ready to play more. It wasn’t a money issue. Is he really going to play more at Michigan? They play at a faster tempo, so if it’s really conditioning that’s not going to help him. I just don’t see this as a great fit for Mara, and UCLA was probably a better place for his development. Unfortunately, it seems to me that the real lack of fit was between him and Cronin. Stylistically, they just don’t mesh with each other, and that is the only real conclusion we can draw from his departure.