December 16, 2024

Let’s start with a realistic talk about the Lakers. Yes, they won last night, but they’ve got a lot of work to do. Some of you want to trade Lebron, while some of you want to trade Lebron and AD and blow up this whole roster immediately. That’s just not as realistic as you think right now. Lebron received a no-trade clause when he signed his extension. There’s a reason he asked for it. He dictates where he wants to go, and chance are he doesn’t want to go. From the Lakers perspective, sure it would be nice to get a couple of 1st rounders, but the reality is trading a 40-year old Lebron isn’t going to yield a whole lot of useful assets. From Lebron’s perspective, where can he possibly go and win and be a championship contender, without gutting a team of all its key role players? That’s actually the problem he’s experiencing on the Lakers. The bottom line is both sides are stuck with each other, so you can stop with the Bill Plaschke “let’s blow it up” takes. Then there’s those of you that have been pleading to upgrade the roster. However, if the Lakers are going to trade a 1st round pick or two to improve this team, they need to show a lot more than they have to prove they are worth investing future assets in. The way this team is playing now, acquiring Dorian Finney Smith, Jonas Valanciunas, or Cam Johnson isn’t going make this team any better than a play-in team. If Lebron wants a roster upgrade, he needs to get more out of what they have now, and show us they are worth investing in. Thus far, they have not. Otherwise, once Lebron retires, the Lakers are well positioned with all their own draft picks after this year, over $60 million in cap space in 2026, and a superstar they can either choose to build with, or get more assets for in AD.

Then there’s the Clippers. They are still hanging in there without Kawhi, 14-12, and there’s noise that he will come back soon. As usual, Ty Lue and the organization sound completely in the dark as to when he is actually going to be back, despite the fact they are seeing him go through practice. It sure would be nice for them to get him back though, because the attendance at the Intuit Dome has suffered. By all accounts, the experience at the arena has been great. However, since the on-court product has suffered, there is only about 75% attendance on many nights. They may be announcing sell-outs because brokers are buying up the tickets, but they aren’t putting butts in the seats, which is exactly what Steve Ballmer had to have been concerned about coming into the season. Unfortunately for the Clips, they tied their franchise to the poster boy of load management, and a big reason why NBA ratings are suffering.

As you’ve probably heard, NBA ratings have been down, while every other sport has been up. Why? Well first of all, don’t tell me it’s because “The NBA is too woke.” That storyline is from 4 years ago, and we’re past most of that nonsense. There’s three main issues. First, the blackout rules and accessibility to games hurts. If you have NBA League Pass, you can’t even watch in-market games. Then there’s the on-court product, which let’s be honest, isn’t great. Every NBA team thinks Steph Curry plays for them, so they do nothing but launch 40-50 three pointers a night, and there’s little to no defense being played, with no physicality. There’s also the fact the best players think their heads are gonna fall off playing back-to-back games throughout the season, or anywhere near 82 games. The NBA needs to think about how to fix these things, especially if they want to appeal to Gen Z.

To the NFL, where the Rams are on a nice little run. After defeating the 49ers on Thursday Night Football, they are now 7-2 in their last 9 games, and they’ve moved into 1st place in the NFC West. With 3 games left against the Jets, Cardinals, and Seahawks, the Rams control their own destiny to win the division. They are also looking much healthier, on the offensive line especially, and it’s been showing. The Rams found a way to win a high-scoring affair against the Bills, followed by a defensive slug fest in the rain against the 49ers. All of a sudden, the Rams are dangerous, and if things break right, they might even be able to make a deep run in the NFC. This could be a fun couple of weeks!

As for the Chargers, I don’t know what team that was that played the Bucs yesterday, but it didn’t look anything like the team we’ve seen all season. Baker Mayfield and the Bucs cooked the Bolts, hanging 40 points on them. The defense was non-existent, and the offense couldn’t convert on 3rd down. That’s a game where you take the film and just burn it. The Chargers need to win just 2 of their last 3 games to get in the playoffs, and their schedule includes Denver, New England, and Las Vegas. The latter two teams aren’t even trying to win games at this point, so if the Bolts can’t get in the playoffs, they have some serious issues.

Elsewhere around the NFL in Week 15, the Chiefs won a game in bizarre fashion, a game where it wasn’t close and didn’t require help from the referees! The Bills got by the Lions, and Josh Allen was committing flops and getting calls like he was James Harden. The Cowboys beat the Panthers, and if I didn’t know better, I’d say they actually look better with Cooper Rush as their QB than Dak Prescott. The old guys came through for the Jets, as Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adam’s hooked up for two touchdowns in their win against the Jaguars. The Bengals beat the Titans, but they are hoping for a Christmas miracle to get in the playoffs at this point.

Nice win by UCLA Basketball over the weekend at Arizona. The Bruins are now 9-1 after rallying from a 13-point deficit against the Wildcats. Going into the game they were ranked #24 in the AP Poll. This team is looking very typical Mick Cronin. Very gritty with some absolutely dominant defense at times. They have some playmakers on offense that they need to give them timely buckets, which they did on Saturday. This team is not nearly as young as they were last year, led by the likes of Junior Forward Tyler Bilodeau, and Junior Guard Sky Clark, but of whom came up big against Arizona. UCLA will take on North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Saturday, and then they’ll get #8 Gonzaga at the Intuit Dome 3 days after Christmas.

To baseball, where the hot stove continues to simmer for the Dodgers. I’m much more optimistic that they can re-sign Teoscar Hernandez. Teo seems to have over estimated his market, even after Juan Soto signed. There is clearly motivation on both sides to get a deal done, which is great. Roku Saski is about a month away from making a decision. I’m optimistic Kike Hernandez will return, but I’m growing less optimistic about Walker Buehler. It sounds like there’s teams out there that are willing to give him a multi-year deal with opt outs, but the bigger issue he may see with the Dodgers is that if they have a lot of starters, he may not have the opportunity to fully re-establish his true market value. For the life of me though, I don’t understand why some of you want the Dodgers to trade for Nolan Arenado. The guy is expensive and way past his prime. The Dodgers currently have a cheaper and more productive 3rd baseman in Max Muncy. I love the idea of Boys in Blue signing a high leverage reliever like Tanner Scott. You can never have enough pitching and bullpen, so hopefully that comes to fruition.

Finally, many of you are waiting on the Angels to make a big move, but don’t hold your breath. Corbin Burnes is available, but do you really see Arte shelling out $300 million for a guy like that? They sure need a guy like that, and a big-time reliever like Tanner Scott. The Halos could also use a bat like Cody Bellinger or Nolan Arenado, but what could they possibly give up that would interest the Cubs or Cardinals? I sure can’t see them taking on any of these big salaries, so you should expect more of the same.