June 30, 2025

This afternoon is the start of NBA Free Agency, and Lebron James is making all the news by opting into his $52.6 million contract for next season. However, Shams Charania is reporting that Lebron is “uncertain” about the Lakers roster, and hasn’t ruled out requesting a trade. This is like when parents take their kids on a long road trip, they are in the last mile, and the two kids are fighting in the back seat. The dad says “if you don’t stop fighting I’m going to turn this car around!” Good one pops. You and I both know that this is an empty threat and you aren’t going to turn the car around so shut up and keep driving. That’s exactly what this is. Shut up Rich Paul and Lebron. You and I both know Lebron is not leaving LA at this point to start over somewhere else now. If he does, I’m sure the Lakers would have no problem granting his request, and getting some draft picks and a Jonathan Kuminga or Jarrett Allen in return. The reality is though that this is just an empty threat to motivate the Lakers to improve their roster. What’s hilarious however, is that they just acquired Luka Doncic and got the 3rd seed, so what do you think they aren’t trying to win? Sorry the team can’t acquire Wilt Chamberlin, Kareem, and Magic Johnson to stack the deck in your favor like you are used to doing in Miami, Cleveland, or NBA 2K.

As for the rest of free agency, Dorian Finney Smith is asking for crazy amounts of money. If he wants to leave that’s fine, because the Lakers can use the non-tax payer mid-level exception of $14 million to sign someone like DeAndre Ayton, and maybe even look to do a sign and trade for Nikil Alexander Walker, who is 6 years younger than DFS. Ayton shares the same agent as Luka, so the Lakers have to feel pretty good about their chances to get him, and he would be a huge upgrade at center. The Lakers need to be careful not to add too many older players to this roster. Clint Capela could be a nice backup they can get, but Brooke Lopez and Chris Paul are too old for this team, unless they make significant roster changes. I just don’t see that happening right now given their salary cap constraints.

Then there’s the Clippers, who’s top priority has to be retaining James Harden, who just earned 3rd team all-nba. I don’t see a lot of teams out there willing to pay him that much, and he means too much to the Clippers. As of this morning, they’ve already agreed to a 2 year $41 million deal. I also don’t see a lot of cities out there with the strip clubs in LA that Harden likes, so it’s a match made in heaven. The Clips would love to add more depth and shooting, but they will also have to figure out how to do so while staying under the aprons. Adding a player like Nikil Alexander Walker is possible, but if you have to extend Norman Powell, that could be a challenge. It will be an interesting next few days for the Clips.

The NBA draft came quickly after the finals ended, and we are already in the full swing of the off-season. The 2nd apron is no joke. The Celtics broke up a contending team because of it by trading both Kristaps Porzingas and Jrue Holiday. CJ McCollum got traded to the Wizards for Jordan Poole. McCollum going to DC makes sense, because that’s where all the corrupt politicians go. Ace Bailey finally reported to the Jazz after saying he didn’t want to go there. He got off the plane in handcuffs and ankle bracelets. Nico Harrison said drafting a player like Cooper Flagg is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I think he means twice in a lifetime. Malik Beasley was on the verge of scoring a 3 year $42 million contract with the Pistons. That’s on hold now because he’s under investigation for gambling. Now it makes sense why he was missing all those jumpers years ago for the Lakers!

To baseball, where the Dodgers have the best record in Major League Baseball, despite all their issues. One of those issues is pitching, where they seem to be consistently utilizing Kike Hernandez or Miguel Rojas when they are up big or down big in a game. This was cute for a while, and I get the strategy of trying to save your bullpen. However, it’s becoming a player safety issue, and reaching the point where putting a real reliever in the game to finish it off is probably more practical. Hernandez and Rojas are reaching the point where they are throwing 25-30 pitches in an inning. That’s ridiculous, and they could easily get injured. Speaking of pitching, Clayton Kershaw is looking great and on the verge of 3,000 strikeouts. That’s an accomplishment, along with the fact he’s simply taking a regular turn in the rotation, which has been hard for most Dodger pitchers. Why does everyone want the Dodgers to trade for Walker Buehler? He is clearly struggling, and why do we think the Dodgers will suddenly turn him around? Max Muncy is on fire, and I think his Opthalmologist needs a Bobblehead night! Hyeseong Kim was supposed to get more playing time, yet after Dave Roberts said that, it’s like he’s getting even less playing time. Kim must have insulted Roberts mother, because he’s outplaying a number of Dodger regulars. The Boys in Blue are back home this week against the White Sox and Astros!

Meanwhile, the Angels are still very much in the mix for the last Wild Card, and now 2 games out entering today. However, it was a very frustrating weekend for them, losing 2 out of 3 to the Nationals, after a series of big time mental mistakes. Sometimes this team makes you think they might actually make things interesting, and then they regress to being the disappointment we all know them to be for over a decade. Mike Trout isn’t even playing like Mike Trout. The offense has been wildly inconsistent and so has the bullpen, yet they aren’t out of it. They also lost their Manager Ron Washington for the season due to health reasons. Knowing Arte Moreno, he’ll try to fire Washington to skip out on paying him health insurance. We’ll see if the Halos can keep this up as we get closer to the trade deadline, which might make them real buyers for roster help.

Bad news for the Rams this morning. Jalen Ramsey was traded to the Steelers, so they miss out on upgrading their cornerback position. Ultimately, it was just too much money for Ramsey, who ended up getting a bigger salary out of the deal than we initially thought. Although I could see the Rams adding a veteran corner at some point, Sean McVay indicated recently that no matter what, the Rams feel good about where they are at and that Ramsey was more of a unique situation.

Finally, what a disastrous weekend for the LA Kings. They completed the NHL Draft, but Ken Holland’s first move as General Manager was to trade defenseman Jordan Spence for a 3rd and 6th round pick. This is what happens when you keep a head coach who has no business being a head coach, and hire a GM that had his most successful run 30 years ago. The Kings spent five years developing Spence, and if they re-drafted in 2019, he would be a 1st round pick. I don’t care if he demanded a trade, they should have gotten more for him. In reality, he shouldn’t have demanded one, because he should be playing top 4 minutes in the expanded role he desires. That just goes to show you that the Kings don’t develop talent and manage assets even more poorly. They have since 2014. Even if somehow the Kings can sign Mitch Marner, they still have massive holes on defense, and need to overpay Vladislav Gavrikov just to fill part of that void. Very quickly Kings fans are finding out that somehow Luc Robitaille hired a GM that is even worse than Rob Blake.

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.