Category: Favorites

Editor’s Favorites

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Every Front Office In The NBA Is Dysfunctional If Their Coaches Don’t Believe LeBron Is A Top 3 NBA Player

When in a recent ESPN Survey Of 20 Coaches not one coach listed Lakers forward LeBron James as a Top 3 player in the NBA. Two of the players listed in the Top 3 have never won a championship or even performed well in the conference finals. Certainly all NBA players are better at basketball than the general population so any list of the top players in the NBA will leave off some great players. Though it would be interesting to see how many coaches in the ESPN survey would choose two out of the top three players they selected over LeBron James to lead their team instead of LeBron in the playoffs.

Now some basketball pundits would separate the regular season from the playoffs and say that LeBron is great in the playoffs but he is not a Top 3 player in the league when you consider the regular season. That's hog wash! The regular season only brings out measured efforts from the top players. The term "load management" has become popular for usage of playing time for NBA players. Even with injuries LeBron hit his career averages during the regular season last year, which averages were better than two of the Top 3 players listed ahead of him on the ESPN coaches survey. So while LeBron's playoff abilities are indisputable his regular season numbers are at Least Top 3 also.

With the 2019-20 Lakers team that will surround him LeBron and the Lakers, will be back in the playoffs, and his playoff performance will be such that no coach who gets knocked out of the playoffs by the Lakers will be saying that they got beat by a team without any Top 3 NBA players on it.  That brings us to the next questionable part of the ESPN coaches survey results where the Lakers were not listed by anyone to come out of the West to play in the NBA Finals. One team listed instead of the Lakers has never been out of the second round of the playoffs. None of the other three teams listed have come out of the West in the last two decades. It's strange that the Lakers with LeBron and Anthony Davis got zero votes among the coaches surveyed.

It's been a foregone conclusion among the media and many NBA front offices around the league that the Lakers are disorganized, if not dysfunctional. But which other front office accomplished as much as the Lakers did in the off season?They had to give up value in order to get Anthony Davis in a trade with a team (and probably the league) that didn't want to see the trade happen. Then when pushed up against the July 6th deadline because of the delay in the trade they couldn't make for Kawhi Leonard they still pulled off signing valuable pieces for their team that, despite what the coaches surveyed said, will be competing for a championship.

Needless to say the Lakers front office is no more dysfunctional than the other NBA team front offices who have coaches that left LeBron James out of the list of the Top 3 players in the league, and who had no votes for the Lakers coming out of the West. The upcoming NBA season should be one for ages. Lots of things will be settled. Can't wait for the NBA season to get started!

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Scale Trust In People To Build Better Relationships And A Better World

The world is made up of elements that connect with one another to form something bigger, hopefully in the case of human relationships the something bigger is a better world. In fact the whole universe works that way. This process, connecting smaller elements together to build a bigger structure describes a term called scaling. You can scale connections to make things bigger, stronger, or both.

Whether speaking of math, finance (i.e. stock trading), human relationships, or molecules that make up the universe, we can see connections that can be made to form a bigger or stronger product greater than the original components. Often we call this scaling "up". Scaling "down" is also possible by subtraction, but that is a negative effect and is not what this article is about.

With the foregoing as the basis let's delve into human relationships that can be developed for greater unity and accomplishment. Today's world is filled with so much distrust and hate that those negative human qualities are making connections and amplifying to such an extent that sometimes there can be no agreement between people on even the most obvious truths. Truths that have been recognized for centuries.

On the matter of building trust between people we see that positive connections can be made so that a relationship can be built that provides strengths greater than that of the individuals originally involved. Marriage and family is the result of the trust developed between just two people who connect and raise a family that can grow (scale) to be stronger than either of the individuals that made up the original couple.

Consider that two opposite human creatures, a man and a woman, can come together in trust to form a relationship that let's them take on all of life's challenges together. Homemaking, child rearing, building a family business if that is ever desired, and most of all the decades long efforts to overcome the challenges of the marital relationship itself. Building a family is a wonderful example of scaling in the realm of human relationships.

Why consider this subject at all?

As previously mentioned relationships between humans today are so damaged by distrust and suspicion that agreement is hard to find even on matters that previously were accepted as the most obvious truths.  "All men are created equal" … "do unto others what you want them to do to you" … "there is only so much food that one belly needs" … "there are more things that connect us than separate us".

These truths were written down, handed down, and accepted by eastern as well as western cultures but today are marginalized in favor of selfish distrust of others who may be deemed as different than we are.

What can be done to make a change. Scale trust. That's done by accepting one truth and building on that with another truth. The body of truth and belief will grow stronger in a positive way so that distrust and hate can be challenged, minimized, and eliminated by the trust that is scaled "up".

Where to start?

There was an old admonition that said "walk a mile in another man's shoes and then you can better understand him". Essentially that means imagine yourself in other person's circumstances so that you can see where they are coming from, and thus be able to better understand them rather than distrust them. In this way empathy and compassion can scale up to trust and love.

Humans are wonderful creatures. With the correct goal (or motive) any effort made at understanding - no matter how small the effort, or how great of an understanding that is being sought -  will result in a compounding effect that can lead to success at reaching that desired understanding.

We can all be a part of the human element that makes up a society and culture that seeks the good, builds the trust, accomplishes the greater goal of building a better world together.

None of us on his or her own can come up with all of the answers to the questions and challenges the world faces. In fact there are some challenges that humans alone cannot solve (such as changing a hateful heart that refuses to change).  But as each willing individual continues  to search for and accept the truths that really are true about other people and cultures, then we can be a part of a world made up of people who get along and cooperate to accomplish the things that are beneficial to people everywhere.

Is this really possible? Can it really be done? You be the judge.

 

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Kawhi Leonard Choosing The Lakers Would Not Be A Weak Move

LA Lakers logo
Los Angeles Lakers

(Update: Since this article's posting Kawhi Leonard chose a different team.)

Kawhi Leonard has choices. He is the most attractive free agent NBA player of the summer. He's an MVP Champion, he led his team to the championship, and he is healthy enough to play next year. If he chooses to play for the Los Angeles Lakers that would not be the weakest move ever.

Some might compare his choosing the Lakers to Kevin Durant choosing the Warriors. That is not even a close comparison! KD was a great player that hadn't won any rings yet. The Warriors were already an accomplished (Championship) team. A healthy KD made them almost unbeatable. On the other hand Kawhi Leonard already is a NBA Champion and would not be "chasing" a ring no matter where he chooses to play next year. Like LeBron going back home to Cleveland Kawhi would simply be going back home to LA, and be recognized as part of a savior for his hometown storied franchise, not a "joiner".

The fact that the Lakers already have LeBron and Anthony Davis and by adding Kawhi, should he choose the Lakers, would not diminish any NBA championships that this trio would win (and it is recognized that they would probably win a bunch). The Lakers big three and the other veterans playing for the minimum would be the best basketball team in the NBA. So what? The best team usually wins the NBA championship and the Lakers with this team will be the number one draw league wide as they do it. That would be great!

Kawhi leonard head shot
Kawhi leonard to the Lakers?

As for those who say that Kawhi would be taking the "easy road" they are not taking into account the fact that a lot of NBA stars have avoided this "easy road" of playing for a storied franchise like the Lakers. Some very talented players actually shrank when playing for the Lakers whether it was due to the bright lights or the distractions of LA. So for Kawhi to take up the challenge of performing on the biggest stage in basketball would not be a weak move at all. Kawhi would be measuring himself against the very best where if he succeeds in setting team records those records would also more than likely be NBA records, because players from the Lakers hold a plethora of the NBA's all time records.

The Lakers being great again would not be a bad look for the NBA. The prestige of the past coming into the present only raises the look of the NBA. Having Lakers' games sellout 82 times will only help. No matter how fans of other teams complain on Twitter they will still want to be in attendance to watch their team play the Lakers when they come to town (or be glad to sell their seats at a high premium).

Getting back to Kawhi choosing to come to play for the Lakers, he would be coming home. Some would say "why doesn't he come home and play for the Clippers then?". Those people would not be from LA (except for Marcellus Wiley the famous FOX Sports personality). Serious actors don't aspire to play "off Broadway". Once successful off Broadway they look to make it "on Broadway". And they don't choose a lesser production hoping to make a big splash. No they choose the best production available and view their ability to be able to choose the most storied production company as being a testament to their talent and not a weak move.

Anyone who has read anything else I've written on this site or other social media sites know my favorite team is the LA Lakers. But I've been a fan through the Lakers good times and bad, and feel no shame that there have been far more good times than bad! I hope that Kawhi chooses to showcase his talents by choosing to accept the max contract from, and play for, the Los Angeles Lakers for the next 5 years.

 

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My Favorite Team

Right off the bat let me say that my favorite sports team is the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers.

I live in the Los Angeles area where sports fans are said to be too laid back, which in the opinion of those who say that means that we are lackadaisical (lacking enthusiasm or determination). Wrong!

Los Angeles sports fans are real fans, just with year round great alternative choices to being at the game. So when we are at the game we want it to mean something, to be important enough to take our attention away from doing something else that would be just as engaging. The team on the court or on the field has to be good!

The Lakers have historically been great while at the same time being wildly entertaining. Over the past few years when they didn't make the playoffs they still were entertaining. That's why their games at StaplesCenter have still always been sold out, and there is still a multiple years long waiting list just to become a season ticket holder.

Like other fans of the NBA, Lakers fans love talking about their team. So does the national media. Even though the team hasn't made the playoffs, and even though certain sports media personalities say they lost interest in the team they still continued to talk about them (sometimes within the same broadcast where they swore off talking about them).

Everything that happens to the Lakers seems to be bigger. After the 2018-2019 season ended the "dysfunction" in the front office was a major story that wouldn't go away. There was a lot happening of course. But as it turns out there was turmoil in other NBA front offices that just wasn't being talked about. Is it because a conversation about other team's turmoil wouldn't move the needle as much as talking about the Lakers front office turmoil does? Probably so.

So at this point I am of the opinion that my favorite sports team (even among all the other LA sports teams) was not as bad off as the myriad of stories over this spring made them seem. Their turn around is still underway and still on track with the timeline that was given for it. The turn around is still a work in progress, but the progress has always been going forward for the past two years, despite the injuries to many of the players and reported collusion by other front offices and agents against the Lakers.

Like all NBA fans I am looking forward to seeing what will further develop in the building of rosters and I have high hopes for the 2019-2020 basketball season.