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“Names in the News-What Happens Next”

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Big names in sports about to make big headlines.

LE BRON JAMES….Within hours he will go public and likely take ‘his talent’ out onto the NBA free agent market. Goodbye Cleveland for a second time in his career. Hello LA Lakers and riches of a 36M year contract.

KAWHI LEONARD…This is ending badly in terms of his credibility. This won’t end badly for the San Antonio Spurs, who are shopping Leonard’s talents to create a bidding war between the Lakers and Boston. So many questions about Leonard, the ex-Aztec. Will he remain healthy? Is this quad injury, which he’s had for a year, surface again? Does a club pay a king’s ransom to get him knowing the risk he could get hurt again? Do the Spurs give another NBA team permission to talk to Leonard now, before a trade is made?

DE ANDRE JORDAN…Here comes the final parting of the last really good player the Clippers used to have. He opts out and may wind up with the Dallas Mavericks, maybe in a trade deal. Gone Chris Paul off to Houston a year ago. Dealt away Blake Griffin, now in Detroit. Now so long Jordan. For all that talent, the Clippers never got to the NBA Western Conference finals,much less the championship round. Starting over.

CHRIS PAUL….He hasn’t gotten a ring yet, and now might be moving again, if he opts out of his contract. His body is on the clock for sure, time running out. Leaving the Houston Rockets would hurt him…and his former club.

PAUL GEORGE….Opts out in Oklahoma City, and is casting glances to the Lakers-Clippers. Of course not everyone can wind up in LA, so maybe he re-signs with the Thunder.

BOSTON CELTICS….Danny Ainge has spent years rebuilding the once proud Red Auerbach franchise. He has a wealth of young talent, and could have as many as 4-first round picks also as a treasure trove of items to put into a Kawhi Leonard trade. But is he willing to part with young star Jalen Brown and veteran Kyrie irving plus more.

lA LAKERS…..This is the summer Magic Johnson has been waiting for. The big question, does he tear apart his young roster to trade for Kawhi Leonard? Does he keep his kids, and instead give out a max contract to LeBron James and Paul George? If you have to deal away Brandon Ingram-Kyle Kouzma and 1st round picks, what does that do to your overall roster? Do those superstars believe the Lakers have the right leadership making basketball decisions? Does Magic walk away from the job if he flames out this summer on the free agent market?

Stay tuned…we’ll know this afternoon…or by 9pm on Friday night. Then the fireworks begin.

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“Hockey Hall of Fame-Who Got In-But Why?”

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Baseball has Cooperstown. Football has Canton. Basketball has Springfield. Auto Racing has Charlotte.

Hall of Fames, for the greats of the sport.

Sure there is controversy. Baseball entangled in the Pete Rose gambling episode….and the whole steroid era, Bonds, Clemens, McGuire.

Football has witnessed the shutout of Paul Taglabue, many believe the aftermath of the NFL concussion lawsuits and the CTE crisis. And the league is facing another issue now with the public pronouncement of Terrell Owens, saying he’s boycotting his ceremony.

And the NHL has a full blown controversy on its hands now, with this weeks naming of NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.

Hockey will honor Willie O’Ree, for breaking the NHL color barrier in 1958. And 4-time Vezina Trophy winner Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils, gets in.

But Bettman, who gets booed overtime he is in public, is getting booed again, over this vote to put him into the Hockey Hall.

The NHL, under Bettman’s guidance, has rallied economically, with a nearly 4B increase in revenues since he took the job.

They have record setting TV contracts. They have built new arenas. Players are making record setting salaries.

But putting him into Toronto’s hall seems a bit premature. Most of sports leaders, deserving enshrinement, get tabbed for their halls, once they’ve retired.

I’m not sure why there was urgency for Bettman to go in now.

He’s disliked because he’s an American running the sports that is the fabric of Canada. He is dismissed by the Union, which has taken a beating at the bargaining table over years. No one buys into the theory a guy from the NBA should be running the NHL.

And the current issues swirling around Bettman these days, stain his reputation even more.

Bettman’s war with retired players over the NHL’s stance on concussion and CTE brain damage is raging. Bettman has publicly refuted any link despite the CTE found in autopsies of deceased NHL and junior players. To him, the NFL studies of its dead players, mean nothing.

Bettman led the boycott of the Winter Olympics, failing to find a way to do a deal that would allow his own players to play for their own flags.

Under his leadership, there have been four work stoppages, and no one will ever forget, nor forgive, the year they cancelled the entire NHL season and Stanley Cup playoffs.

Hell even World Wars I-II couldn’t cancel a season, but this guy did.

Hall of Fame’s can honor its players, its heritage, but this was a strange vote.

Somebody needs to rethink this. Wish you could have a revote. Wonder is someone wants to explain all this.

This guy, at this time, for what he did. Why?

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Lee Hamilton
7:37 PM (2 hours ago)

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“NHL-About to Become Rich-But Where?”

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We are headed to July. Blazing hot temperatures are everywhere across the country. Forest fires are raging in Northern California. Heavy rain and violent thunderstorms banging the midwest and south.

But with all that heat index stuff, sports fans are readying themselves for an earthquake that might happen on the ice, the NHL.

Hockey free agency is about to begin, and 1-player is about to reap the riches.

Today is the final day in which free agents can meet with perspective teams who are about to make them offers.

On July 1st, players can start signing, and the top names will likely come off the board very quickly on Sunday, when the signing window opens..

Meet John Tavares, the biggest name NHL free agency has seen in decades. This is the equivalent of LeBron James in the NBA, Clayton Kershaw in baseball.

Taveras has been the heart and should of the New York Islanders, an awful franchise, that he has served loyally.

Plagued by bad ownership, a crumbling arena, a strange hiring of a General Manager, the Islanders wallowed. Despite high draft picks in the aftermath of bad seasons, nothing ever improved.

The move of the Isles from the decaying Nassau Coliseum to the new Brooklyn based Barclay Center, turned into a disaster. Islander fans did not follow the team on the Long Island Expressway.

The NHL team found out it was in an NBA Arena, not properly fitted for hockey, and empty seats were everywhere despite the best attempts of the NHL team.

Tavares continued to play, score goals, and be a good soldier.

The Islanders, a month ago, cleaned out the front office. They hired legendary GM-Lou Lamoriello, who helped rebuild the Toronto Maple Leafs, after having been the architect of the New Jersey Devils’ Stanley Cup runs.

Lamoriello fired the New York GM-Garth Snow, and head coach Doug Weight. Last week, the Islanders hired Barry Trotz, just coming off the Stanley Cup raising ceremony with the Washington Capitals.

Quality pieces were in place to rally the franchise, but this team could not get Tavares signed.

Tavares, who has scored 272-goals in Islander colors, turned down contract offers. He decided to go on the open market.

He has spent the last 3-days meeting face to face with free agent bidders. The richest team in the NHL, the Maple Leafs, the legendary Detroit Red Wings, the LA Kings and others.

Based on the NHL salary structure, Taveras will likely sign the max 8-year contract, but the deal could be worth a record 10M per year. No one has ever negotiated a deal like that.

But NHL clubs are flush with salary cap space thanks to record setting TV contracts. Some clubs have done a good job managing the cap, others have not.

The Islanders have the leadership in place, have the money to do this, but still don’t have enough players around their captain and star.

He did everything he could for all those years. The eras of Michel Bossy and Dennis Potvin were a long time ago. History, loyalty and good will count only so much..

John Tavares is about to become a rich man. Now we will find out shortly where. The New York Islanders might not be his home much longer. No one would blame him if he left. Most everyone thinks he will.

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“Baseball-At Halfway Point-A Mess”

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Baseball’s 162-game marathon is at the halfway point.

Can we just start the playoffs now, and forget the dog days of summer.

The Yankees-Red Sox and Astros are making a shambles of the American League pennant race.

New York is just mashing people with its home run hitters, led by Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge, though the latter isn’t having the power season he had last year when he captivated everyone all summer. The Yankees issues are whether or not they have enough starting pitching. Add in streaky hitters like Gary Sanchez, Didi Gregarious, and they have lots of firepower.

In Boston, they’ve got bats, they’ve got arms. When you roll out Chris Sale, David Price and Drew Pomeranz, then back it up with the booming bats of Mookie Betts, Andrew Benetendi, Xander Bogaerts and more, opponents don’t have much of a chance.

Houston is searching for its 2nd ring in a row, and why not. Justin Verlande leads a rotation that includes Garrett Cole, Dallas Keuchel and Charley Morton backed a a tremendous batting order, you know Carlos Correa, Jose Altuve and friends..

For all the talent and diversity in the Indians batting order, and some strong pitching led by Trevor Bauer and Corey Kluber,you’d think they’d be running away in the NL Centra, rather than trying to stay above.500. But there is half a season ahead.

Injuries to the pitching staff, for the second year in a row, have robbed the Angels of potential dominance. The elbow injury to Shohei Ohtani has slowed down the Halos bid to get to the upper echelon in the American League. People feel they are wasting the career of superstar Mike Trout.

The flavor-du-jour in the National League could be anybody and everybody, depending on who’s had the lasted injury.

If this was supposed to be Washington’s year, then it’s going to be a disappointment. Start with Bryce Harper’s (.213) batting average, add in an ailing Stephen Strasburg, again, and combine that with no bullpen, and you have problems, and no pennant.

Arizona has survived a slow Paul Goldschmidt start, the oft injured loss of AJ Pollock, but they are deep in pitching, even if Zach Grienke is not what he used to be. Pat Corbin, Robbie Ray and others make a difference.

Atlanta has been a surprise with such a young team, but who knows what fatigue, war and tear, and the pressure might bring the Braves. Freddie Freeman is an MVP candidate, and journeyman Nick Markakis is having a career type season, backing kid pitching.

Milwaukee has called back from behind woeful for so many years., and seems to have a pretty good group of bats, led by Ryan Braun, Jesus Aguilar, Lorenzo Cain and more.

The Cubs have nagging injuries to their everyday lineup, a slumping Anthony Rizzo, a solid Kris Bryant, and a developing star Javy Baez. They need to find starting pitching to match the awesome first half of Jon Lester.

The Phillies are young, and you always wonder if they have enough pitching. But they have loaded up an everyday lineup that is fun to watch.

The Dodgers are on a roll, and this with 5-of the starting rotation having spent time on th disabled list. Matt Kemp has had a revival type season, they survived the early loss Justin Turner, and season ending season of Corey Seager. Can you believe the contributions of Yasiel Puig and Joc Pederson? They could be there at the end, if ownership decides it will spend money to ‘rent a vet’ pitcher.

This baseball season has also been about team’s tanking. Kansas City, Baltimore, Cincinnati, All on pace to lose from 100 to 110-games. The teams are getting to the halfway mark 30-games under .500 already.

The Padres are in the midst of rebuilding, but for every nice win they get, they saddle us with losing streaks too, reminding everyone, playoff spots could be two years away, at least.

The Mets, at one time were (11-1) then lost lots of pitching to arm problems. A miserable summer in New York for them, and we’re not talking about the weather.

The White Sox are force feeding a lot of kids, as witnessed by the record. Texas has been a terrible disappointment. The rage directed at Derek Jeter and the Miami Marlins operation continues unabated.

Baseball attendance is down 7%. TV ratings are off too. Pace of Play rules haven’t made much of a difference yet.

We just came thru the Summer Solstice, longest day of the year. We’re headed for the longest stretch of unimportant baseball now, the second half of the season.

Yankees-Red Sox-Astros, the American Legue playoffs will be the actual World Series. No one else is close. I fear the fans are going to say no one cares either.

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“Waiting Game-NBA Game”

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We have gotten thru the NBA draft, and all these 19-year olds have now been picked, are headed to press conferences, and summer league play and rich contracts.

Now on to the most important time of the off season, here comes free agency.

In Cleveland, they know what’s coming LeBron James to opt out of his 36M contract, to go back on the free agent market, and begin his tour of teams ‘he might want to take his talents too’.

In Oklahoma City, no one really has a grasp of what Paul George is going to do. The Thunder might try to sign him to a 1-year 30M-max contract and hope they can continue the rebuild of the team.

In Houston, Chris Paul is likely to opt-out despite the spectacular Rockets season last year, because ownership will not give him a ‘max contract of 219M.

In San Antonio, the stare down continues between Kawhi Leonard, the Spurs, GM-RC Buford, Coach Greg Popovich, and the the people whispering in Leonard’s ear. San Antonio says he’s not going to be traded in the Western Conference, so his landing spot is still being determined, unless he changes his mind and decides to stay in the Alamodome City. .

In LA, DeAndre Jordan can leave the Clippers, if he opts out of his deal, and become a big money free agent on somebody else’s frontline, rather than endure what will be a total rebuild in Clipper country.

In LA, the once proud Lakers are drawing criticism for statements made by GM-Rob Pelinka, that everyone in the NBA has envy for the Lakers, because of the 16-championship banners flying high above at Staples Center. Not sure what world Pelinka is living in, considering the once proud-now-ragged Purple and Gold, haven’t been to the playoffs in 5-years.

Lakers heritage recently includes LaVar Ball, the kid Lonzo, Tim Mozgov’s contract, and the Luol Deng disgrace, not to mention the leadership of fired son-owner Jim Buss, and the dismissal of longtime GM-Mitch Kupchack..

Last I checked, this was a front office that screwed up on trades for Steve Nash, Dwight Howard and more. Let Pau Gasol exit as a free agent. Insulted LaMarcus Aldridge in his free agent visit. Couldn’t lure Carmelo Anthony to LA. Struck out on a Paul George trade. Could get Kevin Durant to visit as a freee agent. And were just rebuffed in trade talks with the Spurs and Kawhi Leonard.

Magic Johnson played great games. He only talks great games now, but has not been able to be a great front office executive. Pelinka’s claim to fame is repping Kobe Bryant. I don’t think he can hang his hat on the drafting of Lonzo Ball as a difference maker.

With apologies to DeAndre Ayton, Marvin Bagley and Luka Doncic, the real NBA off season is about to begin this week.

The waiting game is almost over for the real players, who decide NBA games.

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