“Lakers-Clippers–What To Do:

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The offseason has arrived quickly, for both the Lakers and Clippers for different reasons.  The championship hopes of Jeannie Buss and Steve Ballmer, owners of the teams in LA,have been sidetracked by a real feel of  letdown.

Age has taken a toll on the Lakers.  They have 2-superstars and a rotating cast of characters around Anthony Davis and LeBron James.

Complicating their problems, they have no first round draft picks and no cap space. They have an unsigned free agent DeAngelo Russell, he of hot and cold play.  Yes Austin Reaves and Rui Hachamura took huge steps forward scoring this past season.

But the Lakers bench has shown no growth, no consistency.

It’s a revolving door of guys off the bench , none of whom have shown an ability to upgrade the team.

GM-Rob Pelinka has tried to build thru a wide variety of players.  He traded Kyle Kuzma and Brandon Ingram away in deals.  Then they rented vets like Carmelo Anthony.  That was followed by the Russell Westbrook deal.  And then the deals at the trade deadline.  Nothing has worked.

The Lakers have found no formula  to find the right parts to put around King James and AD.

The Clippers plight has been about injuries.  Remember how their title aspirations fell to the floor wiht injuries to Chris Pal and Blake Griffin.

Now it’s happened again, to Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.  Leonard has had 3-different injuries to his right knee, forcing him to miss a year in San Antonio and then another season with the Clippers, along with additional missed time for other aches and pains.

George has had bad luck with injuries,nothing season ending, but enough that it pock marks his ability to play a full schedule.

A mixed bag of young and old guys off the bench kept the Clippers in the playoff race, but cannot trust Kawhi and PG will ever be the same and in the lineup together going forward for extended periods of the schedule.

The Clippers are a mess with the salary cap and facing roster cuts, buyouts or releases this off season because they are so far over the cap.

It will be an interesting summer in LA.  The Lakers have to find more players and the Clippers have to find their health

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“Lakers–Bad Start–Bad Ending”

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It was the best of times and the worst of times.
And now it is over, this Lakers basketball season.

The Purple & Gold were run out of the NBA playoffs last night by Denver, as the Nuggets rallied from a 15-point deficit to knock out LA.

It was a (36-13) third quarter run that changed the game.

It was a fatal fourth quarter, when the Lakers went away from LeBron James’ historical night, and could not get the ball to fall.  James wound up with 1-basket  in the season ending final quarter.

He looked gassed, nowhere near the guy who poured home 31-points in a wild first half.

It was the inability to stop the Nuggets big two, Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, their big two as explosive and dominant as King James and Anthony Davis, the Lakers big two..

The feel good finish to the season dissipated quickly.

The Lakers season was all about peaks and valleys.  The awful (2-10) start, the struggles in the Russell Westbrook period, the huge deals at the trade deadline, and the challenge to find chemistry.

Caught in the middle of the mess was Darvin Ham, who as coach, had to deal with the revolving door of personalities , the fragile team chemistry, the re-designed roles players had, and the injuries, the never ending nagging injuries to LeBron and AD.

The Lakers got hot, got back into the playoff race, but I always wondeed how fragile a team it really was?  They should have lost to an immature Minnesota team in the play in game..

Ups and downs as they either got blown out or blew someone out in the 2nd round.  What did you take from the Golden State series, or how this nailbiter of a series ended up with the Nuggets.

Now we go to the off season, with no salary cap space, no number one draft picks, and the reality there are an awful lot of things that still don’t fit on the roster.

Add in AD and King James will be a year older by the time camp opens next fall, and the burning question, do they have enough complimentary parts to be a great team, or is that only linked in the two stars can play 45 minutes a night.

They found a gem in Austin Reaves.  They should say good bye to the erratic D’Angelo Russell.  Rui Hatchamora shows explosive promise but no consistency.  Ditto for Dennis Schroeder and a host of other off the bench guys.

If you can’t be rock solid while playing alongside #3 and #6, then what makes you think things will be better next year in LA?

They got to the NBA Western finals, quite an accomplishment, considering how they started, how they finished.  But they are not a championship franchise, and might be facing another rebuild, one of many,   under GM-Rob Pelinka.

A bad start, a bad ending, and the team is not better now than it was before.  And that’s discouraging.

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“This N That on Teams”

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PADRES….You can call them underachievers, but you cannot call them out of the pennant race yet.  Things change weekly in the NL West, much of it based on injuries, some on slumps.  1-thing for certain, if this season does not work out, you can blame the players mostly, the manager in some cases.  But make sure you hold the General Manager accountable too.  This is AJ Preller’s roster, team, organization.  Currency spent, trades made, length of contracts given, stripping of the farm system and more.  If this does not work out this year, he’s to blame.  But there are still lots of games to be played.

DODGERS…A week ago the team to beat, a week later, so many injuries to their pitching staff.  Walker Beuhler’s long road back, just got longer because his velocity has yet to return in bullpen sessions.  Now you have lost flamethrower Dustin May again, with on going elbow issues post-surgery, that was repaired. And Julio Urias is on the DL and does not look like the same pitcher as last yar, or even to the start of this season.  The five young arms don’t look ready either but they are being pulled up from Oklahoma City ready or not.  What was a week ago, is not now.

ANGELS…You can hate the owner, the pitching staff, and some under performing players, but you have to marvel about the accomplishments of Shohei Ohtani, on the mound and in the DH slot in the lineup.  This is modern day greatness.

USC…I always thought Mike Bohn was a snake-oil salesman when he was here for 15 minutes as Athletic Director at San Diego State.  Now we learn that he was at USC and at Cincinnati, and now he is out.  The LA Times report of the Toxic workplace probe at USC involving 6-female employees has now been supplemented by testimony from 3-women at UCincinnati.  And the bigger question, how did leadership at USC, trying to clean up the messes of Mike Garrett and Lynn Swann not know all this.

AZTECS…I was saying for weeks I was worried about the financing of the NIL packages for its players and whether it was sustainable.    Now we see there are issues of how they can keep up with limited funds.  And how will they keep up with payments if they get the offer to go to the Pac 12-Conference.  Concerned here, you wonder how they survive at Wyoming-New Mexico and other places with limited resources.  I think SDSU’s linkup with JMI Sports is about marketing, and generating resources for their NIL program too.  Good move.

LAKERS..Do or die Monday night, down (3-0) to Denver.  The Nuggets are more than the big guy in the middle Nikola Jokic.  They have lots of firepower.  The Lakers, for all Anthony Davis and LeBron James can do in their 42-minutes on the floor, have lost consistency from the rest of the roster on a night to night basis.  It has been a good season, considering where they were to start, (2-10) but the Lakers, modern day Lakers, getting swept is not a good optic for the future.  The one dotted by age and no lst round draft picks for awhile.
Showtime and Kobe-Shaq is now a long time ago.

CLIPPEERS…They really respect Tyronn Lue, but if he wants to interview somewhere else, let him, but only if draft pick compensation is involved…a second round to talk…a number one upgrade if you hire him.  He seems fatigued by the constant injury crisis surrounding Kawhi Leonard-Paul George.  This follows the failure of the Chris Paul-Blake Griffin era, which never got them to the finals either.

CHARGERS..They must think they will just outscore Kansas City 42-41 going forward because they have not done much to fix their bad defense since the horrors of the (27-0) playoff loss to Jacksonville.  Their schedule is loaded, so they will have to score lots of points this year.  Love the offense.  Think the defense is worst than last year.

AZTECS…Have you looked at the football schedule.  All the big teams in the league, plus UCLA, come to town this year.  Wonder if that will attact the fans back, or is that dependent on SDSU being better than incompetent on offense.  Think this is a crucial season for Brady Hoke to regain trust and popularity in the community.  Ryan Lindley, it’s your time to shine with a new look offense.

GULLS..Interesting summer ahead with the parent Anaheim Ducks holding the second pick in the draft, 11-picks in all, and 30M cap space.  NHL scouts tell me the Gulls will have as many as 5-NHL defenseman on their roster, plenty of them in their twenties this fall, plus an assortment of young players.  Key will be finding some AHL-veterans to compliment and play well.  Hoping last year’s 20-win season was a one-off.

MLS..San Diego got its team and it will play in Snapdragon Stadium by 2025.  Soccer becoming a niche sport in San Diego, but will there be enough room for  MLS, the San Diego Wave, and the San Diego Loyal, and then the legendary San Diego Sockers, whose support seems wavering.  Would hope the Loyal could merge operations with the MLS team, and preserve all the work Landon Donovan  did with the USL team.
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Hacksaw’s Podcast-Link

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“Questions & Answers”

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WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE PADRES?
..Underachieving batting order…a struggle to find the right mix in the batting order..Questions about coaching slump ridden hitters…Failure to throw out any and all baserunners…and reality there is no talent at El Paso aside from P-Ryan Weathers-a roster that has 33-street free agents during the first month of the PCL season…Playing 15-road games in 21-game span is hard…Bob Melvin’s meltdown was strong..’Quit talking-start playing-you are underachieving’.

SURPRISED AT THE DODGERS?
..Very much so.  Different people have had hot spells in different weeks of the season..They are not a complete team yet, especially with a bullpen by committee…Equally surprising all their young pitchers have yet to arrive.

ANGELS BASEBALL-A GOOD START?
..I think so.  The one year rental of Hunter Renfroe has worked out well..Rookie catcher Logan O’Hoppe had a good start till getting hurt and Shohei Ohtani has been exceptional as an everyday player, DH-and-starting pitcher.

NFL SCHEDULE..CHARGERS?
..Seventh toughest schedule in league but balanced..Open with Tua-Miami..but play back to back road games at Minnesota-Tennessee..Bye week way too early-week five…6-Prime Time games including Monday Night matchups with the Cowboys and on road vs Chiefs and at the Jets.

NFL SCHEDULE..RAMS?
..Their season could be over by week 3…They open with the Seahawks-49ers and Cincinnati…They play 3-of-4 on the road to start…they get the Eagles early..then back to back home games with Steelers and Cowboys….End of the season at the Giants and at the 49ers…Just a brutal schedule

CHARGERS AND PLAYERS?
..Had a good draft, do think WR-Quentin Johnston is heir apparent to Keenan Allen or Mike Williams…They seem unwilling to deal Austin Ekeler nor upgrade his contract-waiting to see if this becomes a distraction or damaged relationship…Still have holes in defensive front.

RAMS-ERA OVER?
..They won’t say rebuild, but 17-veterans are gone from last year’s roster including 12-of-top 24-players…They had lots of draft picks and signed 24-undrafted free agents…Looks like a long season to me.

AZTECS FIX WHAT’S WRONG?
..They need the football program to become dominant…they need sellouts…they need a passing game…they need to find a way how to market the team…and they did righht by signing a deal with JMI-Sports, to market the program. A good move.

AZTECS HOOPS-WHAT IS NEXT?
..Coming off the banner year in hoops, they have taken a hit….They have yet to land any bigs to replace their stars, and that is because they don’t have the NIL money to match what a Pac 12 school or other major teams can give players…The Mesa Foundation admits they tapped every source last year, so it leads to this, what if they can’t raise similar money going forward?  And a bigger question, how can you be a Pac 12 team, if you cannot fund a legitimate NIL program?

PAC 12-WHAT IS THE FUTURE?
..The Pac 12 has to solve its future TV deal first, then figure out what SDSU-FRESNO-UNLV-SMU might bring to the conference.  They have another year before USC-UCLA exit..This is a complex problem.

USD-WHAT IS THE FUTURE?
..Basketball has not landed many in transfer portal and that is the result of limitations on NIL money for players….Steve Lavin had a good first year now the question can he grow the program….The firing-dismissal of football coach Dale Lindsey seemed cruel…80-years old…the need to upgrade the offense…how do you turn on a team and a student body that does not care?

GULLS-BAD YEAR?
..Bad year in Anaheim for the Ducks and that impacted the AHL-Gulls…The hiring of Matt McIlvane was impressive, who comes with quite a track record…Add in the fact a whole range of young defenseman are ready to begin their pro careers in the AHL next fall..The Ducks have 11-draft picks and 30M in cap space so they will fix the NHL team quickly.  The losing is about to end.

MLS HERE?
..You have any loose change around..like 350M worth of change-that is what it will cost to bring an MLS team to San Diego to play at Snapdragon Stadium…Assume it would be successful, because San Diego is a good soccer town..but what does it  do to the San Diego Loyal of the USL, and does it impact  the San Diego Wave and its big following in Womens Soccer?  Stay tuned to this.

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“Ducks-Gulls…Bad to Good”

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A long hard winter, a stransge thing to say, when you live in Southern California, but it was awful.

Awful if you were a hockey fan, a player, a coach or a General Manager.

The Anaheim Ducks had the worst record in the NHL, went to the lottery, and will get a really good player with the second choice in the draft.  They force fed all their rookies, went from a quick start in 1st place to a 23-win last place season.

It was worse for the San Diego Gulls, a 20-win season, bad injuries, struggling draft picks, and overwhelmed rookies trying to play in the AHL.

Better days are coming.  The Ducks have 11-draft picks in their pocket and 30M in cap space in their checking account for free agency.  A new era is about to begin when Pat Verbeek, their GM, hires a new coach.

The Gulls will get a fresh start with the hiring of European coach Matt McIlvane, who won 4-titles coaching in Germany for Salzberg-Red Bull…hired at age (33)…and won 94-games in his four year run.  He also coached in the ECHL with the Orlando Solar Bears.

The Ducks have to not just restock their roster, but restock a battered Gulls roster.

Verbeek came to San Diego, and his new coach, all smiles had lots to say too in their introductory press conference.:

Lots of optimism, lots of hope.  Better than last winter of dreariness.
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(Pat Verbeek)

His hiring is an extremely important job..big role
Alot of prospects will be in San Diego next two years
Our journey began with Matt 10-years ago
Intrigued how he communicated..coached..developed relationships
His overseas development process in Germany was important
He knows how to work with younger players and older players
We will send 10-players, age 21 or younger, in San Diego next year
Wants to build championship character
Last year was difficult but losing teaches you alot of lessons
New perspective because we have alot of good youg kids coming
There will still be difficult lessons to be learned by our young players
We need to surround our young players with good veterans leadership
Show up everyday and get better
We need one voice to lead Gulls after years of changes
Matt has a winning pedigree-he has achieved so much
Players cannot question Matt’s know-how and success

(Matt McIlvane)

Extremely humbled to be coach of the Gulls
Hockey knows he Samueli family runs a first class organization
This is a top AHL franchises
My strength as coach is to create a vision and move group to the goal
We build connections with players
Clear vision-Ducks are on a journey to build a Stanley Cup team
We have a development plan-give them a winning culure
Very clear standards and expectations
The AHL is a true developmental plan
Success hockey is not possible wityhout a a team connected.
You build uncommon bonds in the locker room
Hockey is the ultimate team sport
Bonds-brotherhood-so important for a franchise
We will be relentless, suffocating team defense
Alot of young prospects with offense-will teach them defense
Not too many NHL teams that have as bright a future as the Ducks
Don Jackson-former NHL players-coaching legend in Europe-big influence
Tell players-been in your shoes-have gone thru all of it
We want to teach the Ducks style of hockey-be in your face
European style different than NHL
I coached 50-former NHL-AHL players..helps me be equipped as a staff
I know how to push the right button
Talked to Pat during the course of the year about coaching
This is a fun environment for our guys to play in
I will retain the assistant coaching staff from last year..all 3-return