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“NBA–Nothing But Arrogance”

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Adam Silver has a problem, he, the NBA Commissioner.

A lot of owners, spread across the US map, should have a problem.

The NBA Union might be facing a problem.

The Players, the superstars, don’t seem to care about the problem.

The league, after a tense, confrontational, nasty meeting of the Board of Governors, needs to retake control of the league.

Take it back from the players and from the agents.

At issue is the reality that the players are running the league, not the commissioner, not the owners, not the most esteemed basketball people, the GMs, in the league.

The Toronto Raptors, aghast at the demands made by Kawhi Leonard’s agent, his uncle, have turned over evidence to the league office, that Dennis Robertson made contract demands that involved guaranteed marketing money, use of private jets, hotels, houses and vacation trips, in addition to the 32M-per year Leonard would get in a ‘max contract’. An outright violation of the NBA salary cap.

Other NBA teams, who had dialogue with Leonard, have alleged the same.

The Lakers are upset that Leonard waited a full week after a sales pitch, to allow some of his other friends to sign contracts elsewhere, meaning the Lakers wouldn’t get Leonard, and would lose out on other free agents they could have signed.

Other issues involve players going public they had decided on joining teams even before the free agent window actually opened for negotiations..

Kevin Durant notified everyone he was going to the Brooklyn Nets and Kemba Walker did the same, leaving Charlotte for Boston, before opening hours of free agency took place. That meant deals were in place before bidding was supposed to start.

Complicating all this are the friendships players have with each other, players who talked to each other about forming ‘Dream Teams’ by trying to pull off power plays to engineer deals.

Was Leonard tampering with Paul George in Oklahoma City, to try and force a trade to join him with the Clippers, even though George was just year one into a multi9-year deal with the Thunder. It wound up being ‘7-for-1’ trade the Clippers made.

And Durant contacting Kyrie Irving about joining him in Brooklyn in a mega deal, eventhough Irving was still under contract to Boson.

At last count, the NBA is looking at 6-clubs and their contacts with agents representing the marquee free agents.

This has been brewing for awhile. Only twice in the David Stern era, were players or teams disciplined in the past. A huge fine and the voiding of a Minnesota Timberwolves contract with Joe Smith, a decade ago for illegal guarantees. it cost the T-Wolves millions and draft picks.. And sanctions against Miami’s signing of Juwan Howard, years back too.

In the past year, the NBA handed fines to the Lakers and Dallas for comments about impending free agency, but little else happened. Now something must happen.

Owners argued the league has to do something to control this oil fire, where the rules don’t mean anything to the top teams in the league, and surely don’t mean anything for the star players, who only care about their next big payday.

This all started with the LeBron James ‘Dream Team’ concept in Miami, you know, ‘taking my talents to South Beach’.

Yes it may be fun to watch what the Heat did to stockpile super talent, or what Golden State did.

You wonder if the 25-other teams in the league, will rise up and revolt against what has been allowed to happen.

Baseball and the NFL have been harsh to deal with people who violate the salary cap, tamper with other team’s players, or do under the table deals.

The NBA has been loathe to deal with what has been out there. Now they really have a problem.

It’s about right and wrong, and different rules for different folks. It’s about the lack of competitive balance.

Players run the league. Everyone is making 30M a year max contracts. No one cares about the rules.

The NBA, the street game, has allowed its players and agents to take the game into the gutter. .

The NBA stands for Nothing But Arrogance, and they have a huge crisis infront of them.

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“Padres-Lost in Wilderness”

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July about to turn to August, and we’re headed to the ‘Dog Days’ of Summer.

You cannot find the Padres out there right now, lost in the wilderness of a baseball season.

Observations worth noting.

PETRIE DISH EXPERIMENT……That’s what the pitching staff has become. No problem with that. The front office believes all these kid arms are on the brink of deserving to be on the major league roster. Some pitching well, some not pitching well. It’s a process.

CAL QUANTRILL….has been a pleasant surprise working in the rotation and long relief in the bullpen, proving he belongs.

LOGAN ALLEN….One very good start…four bad outings after that. Might not be ready to be a prime time player

MYCHAL BAEZ…Just arrived, looks like he has major league stuff.

MIGUEL DIAZ…..Sidelined again by knee surgery. Nothing wrong with arm-just his wheels.

DINELSON LAMET….Velocity is up after coming back from elbow surgery though he has not strung together great starts yet. Will take time but ready to a fixture in the rotation.

ADRIAN MOREJON….1-outing so far-small sample size but has show dominance in the minors when healthy-but has had four arm issues in 3-years.

NICK MARGEVICIUS….Overwhelmed with it all, will need more time in minors but has the right stuff.

PEDRO AVILA….Long road back from elbow surgery after couple of flashy appearances with big club.

ANDRES MUNOZ….The 100mph-plus stuff is impressive with limited appearances…future very much infront of him

JACOB NIX…..Recovering from surgery after showing flashes a year ago with big club-but road back will take time

GERRADO REYES….Really fast-really young-really wild…been up and down from El Paso all year….needs time to become complete pitcher rather than just a thrower.

JOSE CASTILLO….The forearm issue is scary in that it takes time and you don’t want to reinsure it…..has proved he can pitch at major league level-likely next season.

ANDERSON ESPINOZA…..Two surgeries for someone so promising, so who knows now what the future holds.

GARRETT RICHARDS…..The clock has started on his 20-day rehab stint, a year removed from elbow surgery while with he Angels. Could be here in late August, or could be put back on DL-just to protect him for rest of season. Definitely in the rotation next year. So far-so good in rehab workouts.

BE EXCITED…..Look at the depth in that list above, to compliment Chris Paddack, Eric Lauer, Joey Lucchessi and Matt Strahm. Kirby Yates, Trey Wingenter and Craig Stammen anchor the bullpen. Somewhere in all this might still be Luis Perdomo-Robbie Erlin-Robet Stock. The future looks lots better than today, but surely better than all those bad yesterdays.

Padres-Lost in the Wilderness. Not really, all this good young pitching coming together will be the compass to lots better days.

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“Chargers–They Have Options”

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The full roster is checking into the Chargers preseason camp, heading towards what could be their best season in years.

All except one player, a key player in their offense.

Melvin Gordon won’t be there. The star running back is holding out. His agent is threatening a boycott of the entire preseason, but possibly also into the season.

For a team that fashions itself ready to be a potential Super Bowl team, this has the potential to be a big blow.

This is not like an injury situation. Not a week in concussion protocol, or a couple of weeks with an ankle sprain. This is significant, if it drags into the season, or eats up a lot of the season.

Gordon is in the final years of his contract, due to pay him 5.6M this final season of the deal. He has outplayed the contract, considering his productivity.

The landscape of the NFL has changed. Teams are facing salary cap issues they never imagined. Every contract upgrade for a key player now becomes a request for the highest paying contract for a player at that position.

In a span of 11-months, Todd Gurley signed a 63M-package with the Rams after 3-strong seasons. Le’Veon Bell’s banner seasons in Pittsburgh, keyed by a year long holdout, saw him get 13.4M a year with the Jets. David Johnson, despite playing on a bad Cardinals team, is earning 13M also.

Gordon reportedly wants 14M a year, a high water mark, for a pretty diverse-explosive-productive player.

Seldom has a player gotten a contract that would take his salary nearly 3X more than he made the prior year.

There’s not doubt his value to the Chargers. A combined (5,205) all purpose yards, run and catch. He’s touched the ball (1,089) times in those four years. He’s averaged (5.1Y) per carry rushing last year, and (9.8) yards per catch.

Gordon is explosive, wants to be on the field all the time, has made himself a special productive standout. He’s also been banged up, 4-injuries over the last couple of years, but once back on the field, his productivity never wavered.

Yes the Chargers have people who have produced at that position. Austin Ekeler is coming off a career best season (554Y) rushing…(404Y) receiving and 6-touchdowns. But Eckeler has shown he’s more Darren Sproles-Danny Woodhead, than he is a true big time star.

Young back Justin Jackson, a surprise out of Northwestern, had (331) all purpose yards, including Gordon like numbers (4.1) yards per carry and (9.1) yards per catch. But that’s a small sample size.

Even fourth teamer Dextraze Newsome out of Western Carolina, had cameo appearance numbers you had to like (4.5-9.5) in mop up duty. And that’s in a microscopic amount of time.

But over the long haul of a season, it’s hard to project what any of then would do if Gordon were never not he field. None of them are the proven product Gordon is.

The Chargers have options, but some are not very appealing.

They could play ‘hardball’ with the football. Tell Gordon he owes them this season on the contract, and they won’t give him an immediate upgrade. That would be unfair.

They could give him a state of the art update, an increase next year to 8M, followed by 10M and then 12M in year three. Because of the wear and tear factor on running backs who do what Gordon does, maybe three years is the max. But it does not get him to 14M a season, the intended goal.

Gordon doesn’t have a lot of leverage. If he sits out games, he loses 330,000 a week in game-checks, money he never recoups. If he holds out till week 10, he has to report, having lost all that money, and maybe losing the lockeroom, but plays to get credit for his final year of the contract.

He cannot sit out the season, because he would still owe the Chargers a year on his deal then in 2020.

If he comes in and plays this year of the deal at the assigned (5.6M), the Chargers would franchise tag him next year, at probably 14.5M for the 2020 campaign. But that brings risk of anger, resentment. No signing bonus, no longterm security.

The only other option might take ‘brass’ to do. Trade him.

The Chargers would have to be sold though that they had the right running backs on the roster to replace Gordon. There’s a huge difference watching Gordon get all those yards and TDs against quality defenses, vs the backups making an occasional big play against a tired defense or in garbage time.

The Chargers would have to ask for a 1st round draft pick from a team that wants a quality running back, who could be a difference maker in a playoff run. Maybe New England, the 49ers, Green Bay or Houston.

A season long holdout helps no one, not the player, surely not the team.

Chargers holdouts have hindered this team for years, but maybe Gordon needs to be the exception to the rule. The team is so close to being so good, could they afford to take a ‘step back’ at a critical position in the Philip Rivers led offense.

The window to do this, go deep into the playoffs, won’t be open much longer with the star QB about to turn 37. And a running back headed to year five of his career, with lots of carries-touches-hits-injuries, may not be as productive for the long run either.

The Chargers have options. Gordon has few. Interesting to see who makes the right decision, who makes the wrong decision, in the next couple of weeks going forward.

The Chargers open camp, Gordon won’t gee there. He invokes his option, the team will then think about invoking theirs.

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“NFL Training Camp Preview-Storylines”\

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NFL teams roll into training camps this week…with Questions-Answers-Controversies.

A club-by-club look at the big stories in each camp.

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CHARGERS….They’ve been building towards being a complete team…but now the holdout by RB-Melvin Gordon threatens to be a setback to the offense, especially if it spills into the regular season….Every Sunday big games from WR-Mike Williams…Do they have a reliable big play replacement for departed WR-Tyrell Williams…..Is there a health issue lingering for OT-Russell Okung…..How will DT-Jerry Tillery respond from shoulder surgery…..LB-group is healthy finally-will they play well together….How quickly will the young OL-Trey Pipkins…Forrest Lamp come along….GM Tom Telesco may have put together the most athletic defense in Bolts history including years in San Diego.

RAMS…RB-Todd Gurley-what’s fact or fiction with the arthritic knee condition after a huge drop-off in production at the back end of last season….They say they will ‘manage the workload’…..They must replace Roger Saffold-John Sullian in that offensive line….How good will heavy duty rookie RB-Darrelle Henderson be……How big an impact will Eric Weddle-Clay Matthews be to the Wade Phillips led defense…Best secondary in NFL?

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ARIZONA…The watchdog question…..which is bigger story…development of rookie QB-Kyler Murray….or how good rookie coach Kliff Kingsbury can be steeping to the NFL level….The offensive line was horrible last year, maybe a new quick passing offense will make them more efficient..Bears watching what kind of statistical season Larry Fitzgerald-David Johnson have.

ATLANTA…They get all their injured players from last year’s devastated defense back….They have 3-new coordinators on Dan Quinn’s staff….and now have a happy group of young players, Grady Jarrett-Dieon Jones signed to extensions…expect a bounce back from (7-9).

BALTIMORE……Can Lamar Jackson complete more than 58% of his passes….and will they try to limit his running the football…..Does Mark Ingram upgrade the RB corps….How good is Hayden Hurst at tight end….After overhauling the defense and letting quality free agents go-will be it be vintage John Harbaugh defense?

CAROLINA….Are Cam Newton’s shoulder woes gone…..Will DJ Moore-Chris Hogan-Torrey Smith step up to be big play WRs… will Christian McCaffrey holdup under this workload….Do newcomers Gerald McCoy-Brian Burns be difference makers on defense?

CHICAGO….Chuck Pagano moves in as Defensive Coordinator…..Will they be Monsters of Midway defense with Khalil Mack and as a strong four LB group…..Can QB-Mitch Trubisky be a big play quarterback…….Do they have enough quality at WR or just live on run game and defense?.

CINCINNATI….What will rookie coach Zach Taylor be like his first year in the NFL from the college ranks….How do they survive the loss of #1-pick Jonah Williams in the OL….Vontaze Burfect is gone from a defense that gave up (6,618Y) and allowed (455) points last year…Is there enough help for QB-Andy Dalton?

CLEVELAND…..Have they arrived after all this rebuilding….What does Baker Mayfield’s second season at QB look like…..Odell Beckham-Jarvin Landry-and 3 RBs-2 TEs make them dangerous….RB-Kareem Hunt joins them at midseason..Defense has been good….Is the team ready to be a player in AFC race.

DALLAS….Off the field, the contract issues for Ezekiel Elliott-Amari Cooper-Dak Prescott-Jaylen Smith could be a distraction…..New Off Coor Kellen Moore says the team will be in attack mode more…Return of OC-Travis Fredericks from lines is huge…Superb offensive line …Could be explosive team if it does not implode with contract issues.

DENVER….Joe Flacco arrives after years of of uncertainty at QB….3RBs…..Outstanding young TE in Noah Fant….host of young WRs…but that’s just on paper-have to do it on the field….Vic Fangio to change the personality of the defense….Could be good or could be work in progress.

DETROIT….Year two of Matt Patricia era….Have put some firepower at RB-WR-TE around QB-Matthew Stafford…arrival of FA-Trey Flowers helps on defense.

GREEN BAY….Awaiting results of ‘Chemistry Test’….new coach Matt LaFleur….old school QB-Aaron Rodgers….Do they have enough wide receiver help for Davonte Adams…Free agents Za-Daius Smith-Preston Jones need to make an impact…What will life after Clay Matthews be like?

HOUSTON…Alot of unrest…Firing of GM….OL problems….can they keep QB-Deshaun Watson on the field…the Jadaveon Clowney franchise-tag contract dispute…JJ Watt’s history of injuries…..Health of WRs Will Fuller-DeAndre Hopkins….Coach Bill O’Brien has lots on his plate.

INDIANAPOLIS….It’s time to win..QB-Andrew Luck appears healthy….2-rock sold drafts in a row…emergence of young players…..Great young OL to block for RB-Marlon Mack…..Return to health of TE-Jack Doyle….Arrival of WR-Devin Funchess.

JACKSONVILLE…..Can QB-Nick Foles be the difference maker after all those years of good days-bad days with Blake Bortels….Can they keep RB-Leonard Fournette healthy….What does arrival of new OC-John DiFillippo mean….How scary is the defensive front of Calais Campbell-Yannick Njakue?

KANSAS CITY….Patrick Mahomes resident superstar now has WR-Tyreek Hill back to compliment Travis Kelce…newcomer Mecole Hartman and 3-RBs…..Defense will have 6-new starters in a new era….DT-Chris Jones contract dispute could be problem….Jones-Frank Clark..Alex Okafor..Tyrann Mathieu could change whole personality of team.

MIAMI….Tearing down the roster-so this will be a long rebuild for new coach Brian Flores….What do they do with newly acquired QB-Josh Rosen-force feed him to get him on the field or learn behind Ryan Fitzpatrick. Life after Cam Wake begins.

MINNESOTA….QB-Kirk Cousins throws it a ton, but they need to keep RB-Dalvin Gook healthy….Irv Smith-Kyle Rudolph make interesting tandem to catch passes….Health of defensive front is critical….pretty good on that side of the ball.

NEW ENGLAND….There is Tom Brady and a constant changing of parts around him at all positions….A full season from Josh Gordon, the troubled WR, would he huge help, but there is a trust factor here….Interesting to see how quickly top pick N’Keal Harry gets into the mix…What they get out of WR-Demaryius Thomas….. There will be no more Rob Gronkowski so that will take time to adjust….Keeping OL healthy important….Young defense got better and better last year….Add DE-Michael Bennett to mix..Belicheck methodology of changing players yearly-defining unique roles still works.

NEW ORLEANS….Coach Sean Payton-mad scientist…now adds TE-Jared Cook to the Drew Brees arsenal…Will they miss heavy duty RB-Mark Ingram….Have added lots of defense last two years-breakout year maybe for DE-Marcus Davenport…is it enough?

NY GIANTS…..Eli Manning-Saquon Barkley had good days last year…but now there is no Odell Beckham as part of the equation….The OL has to continue to grow-but new acquisitions will help……Defense ran hot-cold last year…..Media wants to play QB-Daniel Jones after Manning throws first interception. Transition to GM-Dve Gettleman type of player takes time.

NY JETS….Adam Gase takes over the development on QB-Sam Darnold….RB-Le’Veon Bell arrives with quite a portfolio….Need upgrade help at WR-TE for passing game…..DT-Quinnen Williams could be next Aaron Donald…CJ Mosely makes an impact at LB….Will front office turmoil hurt team….Will media create a fury?

OAKLAND….Whole new team after Jon Gruden got rid of lots of parts from last year….Fascinating to see the Derek Carr chemistry with both Antonio Bryant-Tyrell Williams….Add OT-Trent Brown to young group of OL might help….Young defense force fed last year-very young defensive line…needs to get better……Do controversial LB-Vontaze Burfect and OG-Rich Incognito have anything left….Why let TE-Jared Cook leave?

PHILADELPHIA….Carson Wentz QB-health is huge question….Deep at RB….Deep at WR….very good defensive front…need to get battered secondary healthy. Could be really good team if Fletcher Cox-Wentz injury issues are thing of the past….Addition of DT-Malik Jackson-DE-Vin Curry-DT-Tim Jernigan huge help….Team has 6RBs-but hodge dodge WR group.

PITTSBURGH…..Better chemistry in lockeroom but is it a better team on the field, now with the drama queens Le’Veon Bell-Antonio Brown gone…..WRs James Washington-Donte Moncrief have lots to prove……LBs Devin Bush-Marc Barron upgrade good defense…Going to be a different Mike Tomlin type-team.

SAN FRANCISCO…..GM-John Lynch has worked so hard to upgrade depleted roster then saw team get stung by injuries everywhere….QB-Jim Garoppolo is healthy….and the DL-looks loaded with addition of Nic Bosa-Dee Ford and LB-Kwon Alexander. Could be good if it is a year of health.

SEATTLE….Modern day edition of ‘Ground Chuck’ the old days of Chuck Knox where they pounded the football back in the day….Russell Wilson, 3-deep at RB, a rebuilt young OL, and the arrival of WR-DK Metcalfe to join Tyler Lockett….Superb LB group but departure of DE-Frank Clarke and Earl Thomas means ‘Legion of Boom’ has become ‘Legion of Whom’ on defense.

TAMPA BAY…This will be quite an experiment, the pushy coach Bruce Arians and his young turnover plagued-big play QB-Jameis Winston….Ndomakong Suh moves in at DT but lots of changes on defense. Arians say ‘if Winston turns the ball over-he won’t play’….interesting drama coming on Suncoast.

TENNESSEE……QB-Marcus Mariota in contract year…dragging lots of injury history with him….Reclamation project Ryan Tannehill waiting in the wings to play….4-young WRs…heavy duty RBs in Derrick Hendry-Dion Jones and Mike Vrable’s ‘play hard defense’

WASHINGTON….Redskins have fallen on hard times……Attendance is down more than 20,000 fans per game over the last 10-years…..Coach Jay Gruden could be on hot-seat-but this more about front office-ownership than anything else…QB-Dwayne Haskins played just 1-year at Ohio State and no one knows if he is ready for this jump….QB-Case Keenum moves in after the horrible leg injury to Alex Smith…..Doesn’t seem to be a complete team…wasting career of some good players on defense. led by LB-Ryan Kerrigan…Lots questions everywhere.

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“Baseball’s Code–Ugly incidents”

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It was the way the game used to be played, but it shouldn’t be that way any more.

The baseball code was written for decades, pitchers had a right to throw at hitters.

Some would say it was hurlers having the right to pitch inside to hitters.

Some would believe pitchers had a right to throw at hitters who tried to show them up at home plate.

Some pitchers would knock hitters down if the preceding batter had hit a home run.

Sometimes batters would get hit in retaliation for a dirty play on the base paths by a teammate.

Those were the days off old time style, the era of pitchers like Don Drysdale, Sal Maglie, Early Wynn.

But as the game evolved over the last decade or so, the money went up, and the urgency to protect star players from getting beaned, the code was rewritten.

Every once in awhile there would be incidents. Sometime there would be really ugly incidents, like the Pascual Perez Padres-Braves beanball brawl back in the day..

That’s why what happened this week was so shocking, but then again understandable, remembering the baseball code.

Raw emotions spilled out in the Astros-Angels series. Houston outfielder Jake Marisnick crossed the line when he dove head first into Halos catcher Jonathon Lucroy at home plate. He was ejected and suspended 3-games for the violent slide. Disciplined because he left his feet-launched and targeted Lucre’s head-hitting him with his shoulder.

The Angels catcher is out with a concussion, recovering from surgery for a fractured nose.

The new rules imposed by baseball a year ago, were put into place to protect catchers from serious injury, in that they were defenseless, reaching for throws, while trying to tag a baserunner. Of course, catchers can no longer block the plate while reaching for a ball.

What Marisnick did was borderline dirty. What the Angels did was nearly criminal.

Angels pitcher Noe Ramirez threw a 95mph fastball at the Astros player’s head while batting-hitting him in the upper back. He got a 3-game suspension and fine, and Brad Ausmus was given a 1-game suspension too for the incident.

On the same night, Dodgers 1st baseman David Freese took a 95mph fastball in the back from Phillies pitcher Hector Nesi, angry that LA had just hit a 3-run home run off him. Noesi was hit with a 3-game suspension too.

It was a bad look for baseball, considering the pitches were thrown at peoples heads. Old history would have you plunk a guy on the legs or on the backside or the arm. Never up around the neck. Now is different than then.

The historic Braves-Padres brawl went nearly 9-innings, when Pascual Perez hit Alan Wiggins, and Padres pitches threw at the Braves pitcher 4-different times before a full scale brawl broke out back in the early 2000s..

Equally as bad was the John Roseboro-Juan Marichal Giants-Dodgers incident way back in 1965, that left Roseboro bloodied after he went to the mound to assault Marichal with his bat in response to getting hit in the head..

A Red Sox-Yankees brawl involved Pedro Martinez, a notorious head hunter, Manny Ramirez, and coach Don Zimmer getting knocked to the ground in a rage response rushing the mound in 2003.

A Texas sized brawl-Nolan Ryan pounding the head of the White Sox Robin Ventura is part of baseball lore after Ventura went to the mound looking for revenge..

There’s so much money to be made in baseball, but there is more than just home runs, big plays on defense and great pitching now, and what can happen now is scary.. .

The game is dominated now by 100mph fastballs, and there is a great danger now when incidents happen like what we saw in the Angels-Astros, and Phillies-Dodgers game.

The game is still played with great emotion, and should be played with great respect. But
Jake Marisnick, Noe Ramirez and Hector Noesi don’t see it that way.

We haven’t had a fatality with a beanball since 1920, when the Indians-Yankees game was marred by the death of Ray Chapman, skulled with a pitch.

But the dangers are much more evident now, because of how good these players are.

A couple of hot heads don’t see it that way. though. Baseball needs to get even tougher with these knockdown pitch incidents.

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