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San Diego Future….Race to Get Downtown”

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I’m not sure anyone could see this coming, but it has arrived, and this promises to be a fierce fight between a “doer” and someone who wants everything “given to him.”

Dean Spanos, Chargers owner, meet Philip Anschutz, the global developer;

First came Petco Park downtown, and the years of fights with the obstructionists. When it was over, John Moores and Larry Lucchino and the voters won the election, beat back 22-lawsuits and got the much needed baseball stadium built.

Petco Park led to the rebirth of downtown, the Gaslamp, the explosive hotel growth, and Convention Center and so much more.

And now after 9-months of wrangling, Spanos and the Chargers will have their downtown Stadium initiative on the November ballot, though the gray areas on financing and final design are still out there to be determined. Details have been sketchy, but then alot of the stadium efforts tried by Spanos, have been sketchy for over a decade.

And now AEG, the global entertainment consortium,has proposed a 1.4B-NBA-NHL Arena for the Seaport Village parcel, as part of a major 70-acre redevelopments on the Bayfront.

You may say ‘pie in the sky’ but realize who these people are. They get it done. While the Chargers were printing splashy brochures over a 14-year period, trying to find a sight for a stadium, someone to pay for it, and swinging and missing on every idea, Anshutz went and got things done.

They dropped the Staples Center into old warehouse sights in downtown LA. Then came hotels. Then LA Live.

They worked hard on the concept of Farmers Field for the NFL-right next door, but walked away from the NFL.

Setbacks never stopped them-ever. They built a sparking arena in Kansas City. They oversaw the glitzy new NHL arena that has opened in Las Vegas. They built a gem of of an entertainment center in London, England.

They took over the struggling operation that was the old Sports Arena, once upon a time a mini-Great Western Forum, back in the day. They invested to upgrade it, fix it, paint it, and make it profitable.

So now Anschutz and his checkbook want to expand into America’s Finest City, with a multi-phase project that is about tourism, retail, entertainment, hotels, and office space. No project seems too big for them.

There will be battles with the hoteliers, with the Chargers, maybe even the Padres. But if track record means anything, AEG will not be denied.

And now there will be fierce competition for dates, events, money. Not just AEG, if this succeeds, against the Chargers package, but competition with the Convention Center, and the non-baseball event success the Padres have become.

The Port Commission looks at the proposal this week. Anschutz can write any check he wants, and he gets things accomplished.

Can you imagine what Pacific Highway will become, from Seaport Village, to a new Arena, to Petco, to the Gaslamp, to the East Village if this happens?.

I don’t know where the Chargers stand with their ideas. They still need a Stadium. They need financial help and they surely need a ‘yes’ vote come November. But now there is more competition on the horizon.

On top of that is the reality, LA is no longer an option, if it ever was.

The Rams just confirmed they’ve sold 63,000-season tickets for the first NFL season back in Los Angeles. The window may have closed on the Chargers going to Los Angeles. They are so very behind the power curve in accomplishing things. They thought Carson would work. They locked down a potential ‘tenant deal’ with the Rams. And now that seems gone. for the market belongs to the ones with the Horns on the Helmet, not the Lightning Bolt.
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And sitting back watching all this is re-elected Mayor Kevin Faulconer, who still has the Qualcomm sight and financing package in his right hand desk drawer.

Now suddenly, as San Diego and its fabulout climate continue to grow, we have the potential for an NBA or NHL team, and a city that could grow to 4M within a decade.

If you are keeping score at home, AEG gets things done, and they want a new arena to open in 2019. The Spanos led Chargers just continue to struggle to accomplish things they need to get done to keep their franchise elite.

San Diego could come out a real winner. The leadership and accomplshment of the guys from LA is amazing. I’d be concerned if I was Team Spanos, considering who just azrrived with a new set of ideas, and a checkbook, downtown.

“Doers get things done. Wishers hope they could”

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“Good Day-Lakers…Unknown Day-Clippers”

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The NBA Draft is complete and the big names went where they were expected to go at the top of the NBA draft board.

Good luck to Philadelphia, adding LSU’s Ben Simmons, to what really is an all-college team lineup of past high draft picks. Adding Simmons to the likes of Jahlil Okafor, Nerlins Noel and Joe Embid, past season high picks, looks good on paper, but the reality is, this is the NBA and not the Atlantic Coast Conference. The fact the Sixers could not move any of their young players for veterans was surprising, but maybe deals are coming as we head towards free agency.

The Lakers got a gifted shooting forward from Duke in Brandon Ingram, who can fire threes, drive to the basket, and sky. He’s rail thin though, and he will have problems with physical players, but there is size to add bulk onto.

The most unique pick was the Lakers second round choice, a 7’1-center from Croatia, Ivaca Zubac. A gifted shooting big man, who might wind up as a forward, think along the lines of a young Channing Frye. But he may be a couple of years away. Next up for the Lakers will be that 66M in salary cap space, and whether they can lure a free agent to LA to play with the kids.

The Clippers wound up with 3-players, and a real gamer with their late first round pick. Brice Johnson, at 6’10, is a wiry leaper, who can go to the glass, plays big, has explosion and can score. The fact the fell to the Clippers was pleasing.

The Clips traded in the 2nd round to get two other players, a guard from France, David Michineau, a 6’4 shooter, and a big rebounder from Maryland, 6’10, Diamond Stone.

So they add 3-young players to a barren bench, where firepower guy Jamal Crawford is a free agent. Austin Rivers has opted out to test the market and doesn’t want to return, as id Cole Aldrich. Doc Rivers needs players to go with the kids he picked up.

The big storyline going into the draft was the Knicks trade for veteran star guard Derrick Rose, known more for his siege of injuries the last three years, than his accomplishments on the floor. Rose is in the final year of his contract. He may be the bait to convince Bulls teammate Joakim Noah to defect from Chicago also as a free agent.

In a world of ‘can you top that’, Oklahoma City, desperately trying to add talent to convince superstar Kevin Durant to stay, went out and made a tremendous deal. They dealt for Orlando shooting guard Victor Oladipo, veteran off the bench forward Ersan Ilyasova and the rights to Gonzaga power forward Damontis Sabonis. It cost them defensive star Serge Ibaka, but they added youth, speed, firepower and grit.

Next up is NBA free agency in a week, and who knows what happens to Durant, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwight Howard and a truckload of others.

But for one night, a couple of people really helped themselves at the draft table, and on the trading frontline.

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“New Leader-New Roster-New Era”

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The new coach used all the right phrases in his first ever head coaching press conference.

“Changing the culture”. “Work ethic”. “Accountability”. “Having Fun”.

And so Luke Walton now inherits a young LA Lakers roster, which has never experienced winning. He has a massive hole at center. He has no veteran leadership at guard. He has undersized forwards.

What he does have is the 2nd pick in the opening round of the draft tonight, as well as pick #32 in an exceptionally athletic draft, and he has 66M in salary cap space.

The Lakers could roll out a pretty good college team next season, with Duke rookie Brandon Ingram, joining young forward Julius Randle, the kid guard DeAngelo Russell, the shooter Jordan Clarkson and some other NBA D-League level players.

What Walton needs, aside from his philosphy, and sales-pitch, will be veterans to keep the team competitive.

Back in the day, the Lakers were a destination point. Not so much anymore.

The NBA free agent list is loaded with well travelled-well tested veterans. Would a 38-year old Dirk Nowitzke consider finishing his career in Los Angeles, after so many great years, but rather unrewarding finishes, in Dallas?

Does an Al Horford, who labored for years in the bad juju that was Atlanta Hawks basketball, take a payday to come West?

Does a Jokim Noah, headed out of Chicago, make sense to bring stability to that very young starting five?

Mike Conley of Memphis and DeMar DeRozan of Toronto surely deserve paydays, and why not LA, to forge a new career?

Tonight will be a glimpse of where they are headed.

Luke Walton is very much excited to have this head coaching job, and his (39-4) interim record with Golden State, provided him with live-action learning under fire.

That being said though, there will be no Steph Curry-Klay Thompson type talent to go get him points and rebounds, and create victories in LA..

What Walton has beginning tonight at 5pm, will be opportunities, for a top pick, and then for incoming free agents to make a difference.

You can have all the training in the world, carry a briefcase full of philosphical sayings, and draw up all the schemes in the world, but you still need talent, firepower, tenacity and experience. Not much of that around the hallways at the Staples Center or their practice facility in El Segundo..

The Lakers don’t have enough yet, but Luke Walton can help get them some, beginning tonight.

Thhis franchise did not go bad in just 1-season. It’s going to take more than 1-season to bring them back.

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“Bosa-Break the Bank”

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They cheered wildly in the Chargers draft room in April when the first two picks went -Quarterback-Quarterback- in the NFL draft in April..

That meant San Diego would get the player they had researched, studies, interviewed, worked out, and targeted for more than a year.

Joey Bosa of Ohio State was coming to San Diego to fill a desperate need, a quality pass rusher, a fierce go-get-the quarterback guy, the man with the motor that runs all the time, because he is football all the time.

Now they have him, and they cannot get him signed.

We are 5-weeks away from the start of NFL training camps, and he is the only top high pick unsigned. All the others have their money, and the off-set-buyout language in their contracts, all except Bosa.

He’s unsigned because the Chargers don’t want to pay him the slotted bonus money he is due, a 17M-package of guaranteed money, all part of the new collective bargaining agreement. He’s due the money because all NFL teams agreed to the slot system.

But the Chargers want to defer a chunk of the money over the five year length of the contract. Some clubs do that, others don’t.

CAA, who reps Bosa, wants most all of the money upfront, to invest as their experts see fit. The Chargers haven’t had this high a pick since the Eli Manning-Philip Rivers days, and the landscape of the NFL has changed.

The agent has a right to demand the payment. Bob Kraft does it in New England. Jerry Jones has in Dallas. Paul Allen ditto in Seattle with recent high picks.

The Bolts ownership wants to defer the payments into a schedule that would be made each year over the first four years. The agents response, if you’re going to keep a chunk of Bosa’s 17M-guaranteed, then you can pay us interest on top of the bonus, for payments due in years two-three-four.

The Chargers want to pay flat fees. Bosa’s people say you cannot keep his money from him, without a reward, interest payments.

There was also an argument about off set language, if the Chargers were to cut him before the end of the contract. But that’s just semantics. They’re not going to cut him, and he’s not going to be a bust. And if he is a bust, what kind of money would he get from a 2nd team that signs him. The off set language is wasted rhetoric.

So it comes down to this question, why are the Chargers nickel and dimeing a player they think can make them a playoff team, in an area they are so deficient in talent, pass rusher?

Don’t they have the cash at hand to do this deal? All the Stockton real-estate the Spanos’ family bought, now sits undeveloped in a bankrupt city? The team is raking in profits, everyone does in the NFL.

You wanted this player so badly, and how you can’t find a way to bridge this deal, when everyone in the NFL has done that with the top twenty picks.

A poor business model to operate by, especially when you consider all the free agent money GM-Tom Telesco and cap guy Ed McGuire pissed away the first three years of the operation of this leadership group, some 35M in wasted bonus money.

Bosa as a pick is not a mistake. The money you gave Derek Cox and other free agent busts was a mistake.

The Chargers shouldn’t compound past mistakes by making more mistakes, especially since you fell in love with him a year ago. Show him the money, show him the love.

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“Tough Times-Ex Padres Pitchers”

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Sometimes it’s injuries. Sometimes it’s just age. Sometimes it ia a mystery.

A bad day to hear and read about ex-Padres pitchers and what has befallen them in the last 72-hours in baseball.

James Shields, dealt a two weeks ago by the Padres to the White Sox, has seemingly lost his ability to pitch. His final outing in Seattle, prior to the trade, was hideous, and his 3-initial outings in the White Sox rotation have gone equally bad, if not worse.

People wanted to call him ‘Big Game James’, when he was signed by the Padres to a mega-money offer late last off season by GM-AJ Preller. Sure he won games in Tampa and Kansas City, and sure he threw 200-innings plus every year. And yes, there is no history of injury attached to his reputation.

Shields post-season stats were nothing special, an ERA in the 5.00-range. And even last year, when he came out of the box with a (7-0) start for San Diego, he gave up hits, let guys on base, and threw so many pitches, he became a 6-inning starter virtually every outing.

This year he pitched better, but with little run support, and now he is giving up runs by the truckload.

In his last four starts, the one in San Diego, and the 3-with the Chisox, Shields has worked a total of 11.1-innings…..has allowed (31-runs)….(32-hits)….(13-walks) and (7-home runs), in a terrible free-fall from so-called stardom. He has an ERA of (21.81) with the White Sox.

I’ve watched 3-of his last four starts, and he looks like a mechanical mess. Falling all over the mound, his follow thru all over the place. An inability to have the same delivery pitch after pitch. Scouts now say he doesn’t have the location he had, when he was good. The strikeout pitch, part of his repetoire is gone too.

What won’t be gone is his salary. The Padres owe him (27M) on his salary over the next 3-years, with Chicago on the hook for the rest.

Gone too is Mat Latos, the once promising star of the Padres. Traded to Cincinnati in the Yonder Alonso-Yasmani Grandal deal years ago, his career appears to be over. A former 14-game winner, bone spurs in his elbow, then knee surgery, has taken him out of baseball.

From the Reds, he was dispatched to the Marlins, a brief appearance with the Dodgers, a short term look-see by the Angels, and then a starters job this spring with the White Sox. His health changed his mechanics, and he looked as if he was built out of an erector set, with his pitching motion mechanics all messed up.

Latos had a (4-0) start with the White Sox, then proceeded to give up 29-runs in 36-innings and draw his release. The one-time phenom is now just (10-12) over the last 3-seasons and out of baseball.

Color Cory Luebke’s career with sadness. The Padres prospect, who won 10-games in a 2-year span, with a 94mph fastball, is gone, just released by the Pirates. This after a courageous battle to come back from 2-ligament transplant surgeries in his left elbow, and then a 3rd procedure. No one has ever seen as bad luck as Luebke has had. The lst ligament graft did not take hold, became infected, and had to be replaced. He has spent nearly 3-years in rehab.

And though Luebke made the Pirates opening day roster, with an impressive spring and a 94mph fastball, wildness, cost him a spot on the roster. Now he cannot throw strikes and cannot get people out.

Add to that the other Padres pitchers, who have yet to come back. Tyson Ross with the season long stay on the DL with shoulder problems after the opening day start. Brandon Morrow, failing to come back from 2-shoulder surgeries. And Josh Johnson, the once fiery leader of the Marlins and Blue Jays, likely done after 2-elbow surgeries and a forearm operation.

If you’re a pitcher, you know there will be an end of the road. Sometimes it’s age, where you lose your stuff; sometimes it’s injuries that take a toll. How hard it must be to have had success, to dominate, to make all that money, and have it go away, and not have any control of your pitching destiny any longer.

Tough times on the mound, tougher times to deal with it emotionally.

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