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Hacksaw’s Thursday Podcast…1-30pm
You Tube Channel-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
Hot Topics on Table-Stay for Fans Forum
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“NBA DRAFT PICKS”
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Bad teams got really good players, but who knows if they can make their new teams instant winners.

DALLAS…The misery is over with the arrival of Cooper Flagg of Duke, who joins Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving, and the big center Daniel Gafford.  How excited are Mavs fans, who were enraged in the spring with the trade of Luka Doncic, the club has sold 8M-dollars in tickets for the coming season since the Mavs won the lottery.

SAN ANTONIO..They keep building, and the next piece added is explosive scorer Dylan Harper of Rutgers.  Add him to Victor Wembanyama, Stephon Castle and De’Aaron Fox.  Here come the Spurs.

76ers…They need young legs and they need health.  There is so much upside to Baylor G-VJ Edgecomb.  Now they just need Joel Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey to be 100% opening night.

CHARLOTTE..Been tough winters down South.  LaMelo Ball is so dynamic but has had so many injuries.  But they add a big time shooting guard-forward in Kon Knueppel-Duke, to take the scoring load off Ball and go with their young bigs.

UTAH…It has been a rough road in Salt Lake City.  Good big men, not enough firepower, little defense, and the surprise choice of Ace Bailey-Rutgers, a vibrant scorer, known for little defense and an immaturity level off the charts.  This will be a pick that could be boom-could be bust.

WASHINGTON…It has been a long haul back, lots of trades, lots of young players, but this is a really good player in Texas G-Tre Johnson, who seems to be as diverse a scorer as there is on the draft board.  He has arrived as a talent.

That’s where the stars went early on draft night, now we see what other gems are out there.

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“NBA-DRAFT NIGHT”
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Will history be repeated tonight when the NBA kicks off the first round of the draft.  History of great top picks becoming legends from LeBron James to Magic Johnson and anywhere in between.

Or will there be catastrophic mistakes where somebody (Portland) bypassed on Michael Jordan and took Sam Bowie.

It happens every year.

So we wait to see if Cooper Flagg, going to Dallas, becomes elite or if the bounty of young scorers, Dylan Harper-Ace Bailey or VJ Edgecomb become stars in the league.

A look back at the last 10-years of ‘first picks’ and a look at some really bad misses by teams with the first pick.

2024..ZAC RISACHER..Atlanta’s 6’8-F..decent learning year (12P)
2023..VIC WEMBENYAMA..Spurs instant 7’3-star..(22P)
2022..PAOLO BANCHERO..Charlotte big gun (22P)
2021..CADE CUNNINGHAM..Detroit great player-bad team (22P)
2020..ANTHONY EDWARDS..Minnesota-face of NBA-mouth too (24P)
2019..ZION WILLIAMSON..Pelicans-hurt virtually every year
2018..DE ANDRE AYTON..Suns big man-never became dominant
2017..MARKELLE FULTZ..Sixers-got hurt early-in and out of league
2016..BEN SIMMONS..Sixers-promising start-lots of back issues
2015..KARL ANTHONY TOWNS..Solid big man Minnesota-now Knicks

There have been plenty of failures too

ANTHONY WIGGINS..Traded 3-times
ANTHONY BENNETT..Disastrous Cavs pick-washed out
JON WALL..Washington-plagued by injuries-impacted his years
GREG ODEN..Played only 8-games Portland-foot injuries
ANDREA BARGNANI..Toronto pick-journeyman for a decade
KWAME BROWN..Worst modern day pick by Washington

Cooper Flagg…the stage belongs to you.
The NBA draft just around the corner
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Hacksaw’s Monday Bonus Podcast
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“A COOL IDEA–BUT HOW”
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I love the idea, and it fits right in with all the things auto racing is doing around the nation right.

Formula 1 is the rage, and has 3-events now in the US.
Indy Car has grown its series, expanding to more road races
NASCAR wants to expand and is willing to look at dynamic new road course ideas.

And now the rumor has become fact, NASCAR wants to move back into the Southern California market.  That with the closure of Auto Club Speedway at Fontana for massive teardown and renovations.

They want-need to hit the reset button on NASCAR interest in So Cal, and that is why they are talking to the San Diego Sports Commission about a road course race here.

I love the idea but I wonder where they would run it.

A NASCAR race here would draw tons of fans out of town.  It would be a destination point for racing fans from all over.  They remember the King, Richard Petty, the Alabama Gang-led by Bobby Allison, and all things the Intimidator-Dale Earnhardt.

A road race here has to be structured to show the beaches, the palm trees, the sunshine, the babes.

You want it close to the proximity of the Gaslamp Quarter where they can party an entire weekend.

But where do you run a road race?

1st thought, Harbor Drive, near the airport thru parts of downtown, but that’s the airport and you cannot shut down traffic in and out  of there so fans can see Bubba Wallace.

2nd thought, along Hiway 101 up towards Delmar, but that’s thru beach communities and it might be nothing more than a drag race led by William Byron.

3rd thought, Coronado Island-can you imagine a road course blowing by the Hotel Del headed to the Silver Strand, a treat to see Denny Hamlin roar by.

Maybe the best locale might be access to the Coronado Naval Air Station grounds.  How do you incorporate the scenic Coronado Bridge as part of the race over and back for Kyle Busch pushing people into guard rails?

Shall be fun to see what happens.  NASCAR is also talking to Montreal, which has an F1-road course, plus Philadelphia  and other venues.

But San Diego makes sense, especially trying to jump-start interest in auto racing here from Mexico to Los Angeles.

It would be a big financial success.  Just tell me where?

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Hacksaw’s Monday Bonus Podcast..1-30
You Tube Channel-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
Hot Topics on the Table..Stay for Fans Forum
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“WILD SPORTS WEEKEND”
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What I saw-What I thought this weekend.

DODGERS-PADRES…It wasn’t really a brawl, but it was dangerous, all these beanballs and the intensity of the rivalry reaching an ugly dimension.  Everyone is to blame.  Dodgers young pitchers throwing 100mph-not locating pitches.  Fernando Tatis putting himself at risk by always striding into pitches-leaning into the plate.  8-hits batsmen in a 4-games is way too much.  The plunking of Shohei Ohtani looked intentional.  Mike Shildt has every right to come out of the dugout to confront umpires, but him making a move towards the Dodgers dugout incited things.  Dave Roberts, coming out of the dugout, was right, but him putting his hands on Shilt, bumping him, should have resulted in a 2-game suspension.

A WEIRD ENDING…After all the hostile moments after the Tatis beaning, two sights to see.  Ohtani, after getting plunked in the upper back…stood and talked and joked with Luis Arraez and then did the same thing standing by the Padres dugout.  And Teoscar Hernandez put his arms around Shildt’s shoulder and they walked up the first base line laughing and joking.  So the rivalry will be put on hold till mid-August, and we will have to see who is where in the standings by then.

SUPER UTILITYMAN…Jose Iglesias saved the Friars on Sunday.  A two run pinch hit double tied the game in the 7th.  He threw the Royals go ahead runner out at home in the 9th, then won the game with an infield single in the bottom of the 9th.  He has become pretty popular for a part time player.

DODGERS BOUNCE BACK…Just when you wonder if the Dodgers batting order was going to falter under the weight of having to score so many runs, here comes Max Muncy with a grand slam HR and a2-run shot in the Sunday comeback win over Washington.

SHOWTIME…The second outing from Ohtani was pretty dominant…a 1-2-3 inning, clocked at 99, with 2-strikeouts in his one inning vs Washington.

ANGELS…The news is scary, not just another struggle of a season in Anaheim, but the fact 73-year old Manager Ron Washington, has taken an indefinite leave of absence.  He saw doctors on the last road trip, citing fatigue and breathing problems.  The Halos won’t say if it is stress related, a heart valve issue, or just exhaustion.  Losing does that to you.

SAD FAREWELL…Media covering baseball mourns the passing of a truly nice guy, longtime national baseball beat writer and author Scott Miller, who fought a courageous battle with cancer for a year and half.  And during that time, he found the resolve the complete the work on his final book ‘The Managers”, a look at the history of modern day managers and what makes them great.  Miller covered the Twins, moved to the West Coast.  He worked for the LA Times, then the New York Times, CBS Sportsline and Fox Sports.  A friendly smile, cooperative, a very good storyteller, a craftsman.  We all remember him fondly. But it was a Sad Saturday and Sunday around press boxes in the majors.

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Hacksaw’s Thursday Podcast
You Tube Channel-Lee Hacksaw Hamilton
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“NBA-ROLLER COASTER”
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We have 1-more game on the NBA schedule, capping off a schizophrenic championship round.

This Oklahoma City-Indiana Pacers final round denies description.  It all started early with the Pacers grit and grime win in Oklahoma City to start the series.

It progressed to the scorch job Thunder win on Indy’s home floor when OKC would have gone down 3-1 in the series.

There was the 71-point combo night from Oklahoma City’s stars Shai Gilegous-Alexander and Jalen Williams.

And then there was Thursday night’s devastation. A raucous crowd, an Indy team hitting 8-of-10 shots early to grab a big lead.  A (17-2) burst in the 2nd quarter.  The Pacers choke hold defense forcing a ton of turnovers.  Indy burying 3-point shots all over the 317-area code.  And the lead went to 30-points at one point in the second half.

All this with an ailing superstar Tyrese Haliburton playing limited minutes with a calf.

It looks as if OKC’s heart did not make the flight to Indianapolis.  Turnovers, tons of them, at one point (1-11) shooting from 3’s, and a team that got mugged all night long, all over the court by the Pacers defense.

It’s been a long time since the Pacers won a championship.  A decade ago the franchise had Reggie Miller and Ric Smits.  Back in the 1970s, the Pacers were ABA champions with the likes of George McGinnis, Mel Daniels and Roger Brown.

So they head to the 7th and final game of as wild a series as we have seen in a long time.  Sunday will be as hostile in Oklahoma City as Thursday night was in downtown Indianapolis.

Hard to think OKC’s Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren and the others would have another clinker of a performance, especially at home.  Of course, the youngest team in NBA playoff history has not been down this hallway before.  Neither has Indiana-this deep into the finals.

Shall be fun.  Sitting in the front seat of this roller coaster?  Hold on.  The Thunder and Pacers are about to provide one final ride come Game 7.
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