Holy sh*t! Magic made quick work of his coup since being hired as a consultant last week.

The Los Angeles Lakers have shaken up their front office, promoting team legend Magic Johnson to president of basketball operations and firing general manager Mitch Kupchak and vice president of basketball operations Jim Buss.

"Today I took a series of actions I believe will return the Lakers to the heights Dr. Jerry Buss demanded and our fans rightly expect," team governor Jeanie Buss said in a statement. "Effective immediately, Earvin Johnson will be in charge of all basketball operations and will report directly to me. Our search for a new General Manager to work with Earvin and Coach Luke Walton is well underway and we hope to announce a new General Manager in short order. Together, Earvin, Luke and our new General Manager will establish the foundation for the next generation of Los Angeles Lakers greatness."

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/18734012/los-angeles-lakers-put-magic-johnson-charge-fire-mitch-kupchak-jim-buss

Next, they'll be bringing in Kobe, Jerry West, and Phil Jackson (after he leaves NY, because he's been a clown show since he's been there).

I kinda though a Jackson/Rubio swap would happen; I never realized how much Rubio has fallen out of favor with Thibs (at least that's all I heard for the last week). Detroit was asking a lot for him though, something like a first rounder, a good young player, and an expiring contract. And of course the report that Sacramento didn't agree to a decent Drummond/Cousins trade...which proves that the Kings are a sh*t show, especially considering what they got for Cousins instead. Vlade's not only a flopper on the court, but he's a flop as an executive. I'd take Cousins and build around him; Detroit would move right up to the upper tier automatically.

I remember paying 70 bucks for Chrono Trigger (used!) back in '96. I have Earthbound too, with the big players guide that came with it. People are trying to sell that stuff on Ebay for hundreds of bucks, which is really absurd.  You could probably go into a local used game shop and find it for 60-80 bucks. Secret Of Mana is a big one, too. I never really got into it, though.

I never got into Sega systems (except Dreamcast. I loved it, still have it). I was a Nintendo fan boy. Still waiting to get my hands on that damn NES Classic. It's funny to me that Nintendo is coming out with a new system in a couple of weeks, and they can't even keep up with demand on a system that uses technology from 30 years ago.

I've read that about Rondo, too: that as petulant as he can be toward coaches or officials, he is considered a great teammate and has been at every stop. Go figure! I still wouldn't want him, honestly, even at vet minimum salary, just because he has been so distrustful of coaches, so insistent on running things his way, and most of all, being so opposed to shooting the fricking ball! (When he's in a mood, he makes Rubio look like Steph Curry.)

The Reggie Jackson trade rumors have heated up again. What the heck is going on in Detroit with him? But let me say definitively, even though I think Jackson is good, I do not want to deal for him, and especially not if it means moving Rubio.

I have heard the Jackson for Rubio swap for a while. It comes up, goes away, and then comes back.
I'd guess that Jackson is going to be gone by next week. I think if they got an offer for Drummond that blew them away they'd take it, but that doesn't look like it's happening; they'd probably get more for Jackson. Jackson isn't driving to the rim as much as last year, and I don't know if it's because he can't or he doesn't want to.  They're better off running things with Ish Smith.

Well, time for the MSU/Purdue game! Swanigan will probably eat us up again.

Getting Jimmy Butler back on the court can work wonders...

While I don't expect a blockbuster, I think the Bulls could be interesting as we approach the trade deadline. Just checking last night's box reminds me how little sense this team makes. You've got Butler playing 40 minutes and taking 20 shots, you've got Robin Lopez, Rajon Rondo, Taj Gibson in still-key roles ... but then you're starting MCW and Jerian Grant? You're heavily relying on Bobby Portis and Cristiano Felicio, and even getting Denzel Valentine in there? It's like two mini-teams make the roster. If it were me, I'd either try to get a more competitive roster that's, say, 2/3 or 3/4 prime-career guys, or try to get a more up-and-coming roster that's the opposite of that, 2/3 to 3/4 young and talented with a few vets there for stability and good examples. But this, it's just neither one. They aren't good now, they don't look like they'll be good later, and nobody's happy.

Do you know how unhappy it makes me that Denzel got drafted by this team? It would've been nice to see him go to an organization that knows what the hell it's doing.

Here's something interesting, though; recently, Valentine was interviewed and asked about how his first year was going. And the guy that he kept mentioning was Rondo. Rondo was the first guy in the gym, Rondo was a lot of help giving him advice. Rondo seems to get the brunt of the hate, yet here's a rookie (unprompted) talking about what a great teammate he is.

In light of my previous post...I have to join the discussion! 

The Sixers to be honest fell off the radar. I stopped listening to sports talk about 2 decades ago, but I know most of the city sports fans after a certain point simply didn't care because it felt like the team management stopped caring about the fans. And the whole Iverson-Larry Brown conflict drew lines that I and a lot of fans thought were bogus.

But for those outside Philly, let me go back a bit and set the scene. If I get any details wrong, please correct because it's been years.

Before Iverson, there was a Sixers owner named Harold Katz. Keep in mind this 76ers team was once a proud winning team, I mentioned Dr J already but that championship season had Dr J and Moses Malone with his "fo fi fo" prediction and all the good ball that was played.

So Katz comes in, I mean we had Barkley and Mahorn and the "Bump N Thump" team that was pretty cool, but the Sixers hit a brick wall. So Katz had a key draft signing and went with a gangly kid named Shawn Bradley against almost the whole city's wishes. Katz gave him a special jersey with the number 76 and was building a team around this guy...only he couldn't play, he couldn't shoot, and he was soft as hell on the court. At one point they even hired back Moses Malone as a personal coach to try to man up Shawn Bradley and toughen him up, never mind the shooting problems. It didn't work.

So picture a franchise getting a franchise player to build the team around him, and he couldn't play worth a damn. To make it worse, at one point Shawn Bradley literally disappeared from the team - Turned out he was on a religious mission or something and bailed on the team's schedule.

And Katz...I forget the details but there was some kind of a big deal surrounding the team where they needed Katz, and no one could find him or contact him. Turns out he was on a luxury cruise vacation or some sh*t and wasn't taking calls.

That was the Harold Katz Sixers. Eventually Katz left and Bradley got shipped out. Then Iverson came in, and so did Pat Croce as GM.

Croce was a known figure around Philly, he was successful as a motivational kind of guy and also had an exercise or fitness deal going, so he was usually on TV and had a really good way with people. He had also been a personal assistant to Chuck Barris in a previous career...or something, lol.

And Croce literally got the whole city behind the team. he rebuilt a fanbase from literal ashes, and used to do a lot of outreach and public appearances to get fans back on board. He'd be seen standing on busy intersections in Philly handing out Sixers hats and shaking hands, and was really getting the city pumped. It worked.

Enter Iverson, who was a controversial pick but the guy played as tough of a game as I've seen, especially for his size, and would have a way of frustrating the other teams because no matter how much they knocked him around and down on the court, he'd get back up and make them pay for it. A true player, even with all his personal baggage from the past.

They went to the finals, and the playoffs combined with the regular season was the best basketball I have personally seen. I don't think I missed more than a few games that season, it was electric. And the playoffs with teams like the Bucks were the kind of basketball that spoils you forever. As good a game as you'll see, battling odds that people didn't think could be beaten. Unfortunately they lost to the Lakers in the finals, but as a true Philly fan I still say they were robbed by poor officiating and couldn't overcome the coddling of the celebrity players like Shaq and Kobe.

Put it this way...in the finals, there was a scrum under the basket where the two big men Shaq abnd Dikembe Motuombo were fighting for the ball. Shaq literally shoved the ball into Motuombo's face, a deliberate foul, and Dikembe got the foul! That was complete bullshit...but that was the refs coddling the big stars whose jerseys sold and made money.

Another annoyance from that finals...Tyronn Lue. What a pain in the ass. Anyway, 

Then Croce was gone, and since then the Sixers have had situations where they were better off losing games to get higher draft picks...and when they got those picks, in some cases they flopped. Imagine a team who once rallied literally the whole region behind them being reduced to deliberately underplaying and losing games to garner draft picks, and ownership that doesn't do anything for the fans or the team's well being except offer cheap seats in package deals that no one bothers with.

Shameful. But that's the state of basketball in Philly with the Sixers. If they get anyone as electric and as ballsy as Iverson in his prime, I'll watch them. But my avoidance of them continues as of the present day.

I paid attention to those Philly teams with Barkley and Mahorn; Mahorn was one of my favorite Pistons, and I was pretty upset that they traded him Minnesota, who in turn traded him to Philly. Later on, I was a big fan of those Iverson teams that were really good because they had Eric Snow as their PG, who played at my favorite college. And I loved the way that Iverson played.

I remember even at the time, the Bradley pick was kinda sketchy. He had only played 1 year of college ball before going on a church mission (if memory serves me correctly); the thing was, it was a hell of a year. He had like 10 blocks in a tournament game (Captain will correct me if I'm wrong), and had like 6 blocks per game, averaged 15 points and 10 boards or something close to that.  I remember the big thing that people said at the time was "you can't teach height". After he left Philly he had some decent years with a couple of teams. He didn't deserve to be number 2 that year, but he wasn't a flat out bust like a lot of people remember.

I came back just for you!

I'll take what I can get, as far as the Pistons go. One of the most disappointing teams in the NBA this year. I'm pretty sure that Reggie Jackson is going to be gone either by the trade deadline, or in the off season. They don't play well with him, for whatever reason. Either he isn't the same guy he was before he got hurt, or he's just gonna be a guy who has terrible shot selection, who knows? There's been a lot of grumbling though. It will be interesting to see what happens next. I'd rather they make some mega deal for someone like (forgive me) Demarcus Cousins. This team isn't going to contend for anything. The worst thing that can happen to a team is they end up like Atlanta; good enough for a 6-8 seed, and not bad enough to get a high draft pick. Then you're stuck in limbo.

Just read that Lavine is done for the year. Ouch.

Maybe they'll bring a guy in like Noah, who isn't afraid to kick someone's ass-either on the other team, or his own. A guy who can be a vocal leader.

Oddly enough, with this Stanley Johnson talk, he is being sent down to the D-league team in Grand Rapids. He, Ellenson, and Gbinjie (or however you spell it) are going down. Johnson (and maybe the other 2) will be back in Detroit for the game with the Sixers tomorrow night.

I don't know what the point of it is. To get him some playing time somehow, in order to boost his confidence? As a punishment for breaking some rule (that he already was punished for last week by getting a DNP-CD)? It seems odd that he would get sent down for just one game.

Leuer is a solid player! He was one of those signings that wasn't 'sexy', but he's averaging something like 10 points and 7 boards off the bench. I'll take that any day. And it looks like they're really starting to get him some looks on offense; Van Gundy said that they ran a couple of plays for him last night, which they haven't done very often. So, good stuff.

A Minnesota trade rumor that I read was some sort of a 3 team trade, with Minnesota ending up with Nerlens Noel, who seems to be the hot trade target right now.

Detroit at Minnesota tonight: hopefully it's a chance to wash out the bad taste of last night's Toronto loss. So Verlander, I'm rooting against you. Vigorously!

But I have a question for you, too. I haven't seen Detroit play this year, I don't think, but I have noticed in the boxes that Stanley Johnson hasn't advanced. Is this just because of a logjam at the PF spot that moves combo guys like Tobias Harris more into the SF spot, squeezing him for minutes? Or is he playing poorly? I thought by the end of last year he was really finding his footing in the NBA as a guy who maybe didn't shoot all that well, but did a lot of little things. And he certainly didn't lack confidence. But with the Morris twin, Jon Leuer, Henry Ellenson, I can see where minutes are harder to come by. And he can't really play SG without being a better shooter and handler.

Johnson seems to be in the doghouse a bit. Van Gundy last week said that his work ethic was 'inconsistent'. This was after he was suspended for a game for violating team rules (which they of course didn't give any detail on). And as you said, there is a squeeze for minutes also, with Tobias Harris and Marcus Morris eating up the small forward minutes. So it's a combination of things. They aren't happy with him right now, and he's probably pouting about it a bit. So he can either get his act together and do what they want, or keep sulking and maybe get dealt in the off-season. I think he'll come around. He's only 20 after all, he's a pretty young kid, and it's only his 2nd year. I think by the end of the year they'll come to an understanding. He's a really talented guy, so I'd like to see him stay, for sure.

And uh, I think that you probably have a worse taste in your mouth this morning after that beatdown last night! Drummond had a pretty good game, I'd say! I can feel Thibs cooking up a deal to get some vets on his team!

Pistons hand the Clippers their first road loss of the year. Gotta love that!

Now, if Detroit can learn how to, you know, actually win on the road, they'd be in good shape.

My Parents weren't ever concerned about me listening to the Devil's music, as much as they just didn't want it to be full of swearing. And they didn't want it to really involve sex that much.

Like the Beastie Boys 'License To Ill'. I think they took one look at the video for "You Gotta Fight", and decided that it wasn't appropriate for a 12 year old kid to listen to. Being a parent now, I can understand it.

When I was a teen, things were starting to heat up as far as censorship in music. I remember getting my hands on 2 Live Crew's "As Nasty As They Want To Be", and not being able to believe what I was hearing (unfortunately, I can still rap most of the lyrics to 'Get Loose Now'. Which, judging by the title alone, you can imagine how that song went).

I went through a heavy Slayer phase when I was 15, 16 years old. I don't know if it was because it seemed pretty taboo or what; I mean, their stuff is pretty satanic. They aren't satanists, but you wouldn't know that by listening to their music. I think it was more just the shock of it all; basically, 2 Live Crew and Slayer were the same thing, they were pushing the limits of what you could or couldn't do. It's just that 2 Live Crew was pure sex, and Slayer was pure death. And all of that music, I hid from my Parents, because I knew that they would either throw it in the trash on first sight (2 Live), or take it and hide it from me until I was old enough to be able to handle the real horrors of the world (Slayer).

None of their objections really had anything to do with religion. It was more just trying to instill in me good values, such as not looking at women as objects, or rocking out to a song about the horrors of Nazi Germany.

Can't Buy Me Love

I think it would sound good spoken, except over the Hawaiian chants at the end. It seems like you could put a little something more there.

There are reports of rumors ("reports of rumors," this is what sports journalism is...) that Thibs is getting impatient and may trade one of the promising young Wolves for a veteran who can help win games now.

http://nba.nbcsports.com/2016/11/24/rumor-tom-thibodeau-expected-to-trade-young-timberwolves-player-for-established-veteran/

While I'd never say never without knowing specifics--and again, this is all based on speculation at best--I'd be really, really hesitant to move KAT, Wiggins, or LaVine for an older player. I mean, some of the guys mentioned? Taj Gibson? Luol Deng? Fine players, both, but Deng is well into his downside, no doubt a great locker room guy and moderately productive player, but for a future all-star? And Gibson, he's a productive, solid role player. Again, this for a future all-star?

I really, really want this Wolves team to make the playoffs this year. But if it starts looking like they won't, life goes on. Take a few losses for the bigger picture. Move some peripheral guys in an attempt to help things out, maybe Shabazz Muhammad, Gorgui Dieng (if he's trade-eligible...his extension might have messed that up for now), Tyus Jones, Ricky Rubio, even. But you don't start dealing away some of the most talented players we've ever had on the roster before they even reach their primes just because they aren't improving as quickly as your imagination has them improving.

I'm hoping this is just the stupid internet talking.

I saw the article (or an article) talking about this, and I figured that it was just news for the sake of having to have news early in the season.

If this is true, than it's absolutely asinine. What did he expect, to make the Western Conference finals? I exaggerate, but you know what I mean. It's a young team that has to learn. If he's that impatient, then he picked the wrong job, and the Wolves were foolish to give him that kind of control, especially if he starts trading for guys he used to have on Chicago's roster. I understand that he doesn't like to lose, and he's used to winning. This isn't the right way to do it, though (which I'm sure you're aware of, Cap. )

I agree with you 100%. I think anything below 5 rpg for a SF is very, very questionable. The main exception would be if he's more or less a 3-point shooter (exclusively). Like say it's Brad Lohaus or someone, Steve Novak, these types of players. (I realize these guys were mostly PFs, but the point is the same, as I mean guys whose job on offense is literally just to stay outside the 3-pt line.). In a lot of ways, Wiggins seems like a Tracy McGrady type. Well, from mostly SG, McGrady averaged almost 6 rpg for his career (and more than 7 rpg two different seasons). Paul Pierce was shorter than Wiggins and averaged about 6 rpg for his career, and more than 7 rpg about half a dozen times. Scottie Pippen, 6.4. Clyde Drexler, 6.1. Adrian Dantley (6-5) averaged 5.7.

If you're not a shooting specialist, and you're 6-8, and you're absurdly athletic, you need to be getting 5+ rpg, and ideally more like 8. Even if you're thin.

You could say that Towns and Dieng grab up almost 20 rpg, so that makes it harder for the smaller guys, but Rubio seems to find a way to get 4 rpg from the PG spot...

Holy sh*t, Brad Lohaus? That's going back!

All of your work is fantastic!

I'm still disgusted about how well the Clippers are playing.

Kevin Love had 34 points last night-in the 1st quarter. That's not too shabby.

Got it. Thank you!
Does another famous athlete have a very similar name? If not, I've heard of him. Yay!

Sadly, yes. Isiah Thomas (not spelling difference) was a very, very famous basketball player (also a point guard, actually) mostly in the 1980s. He played for the Detroit Pistons, and retired probably in the early to mid 90s. This one entered the pro ranks maybe about 5 years ago. So there was quite a space between them.

And the Detroit Pistons Thomas is one of the best to ever play the game!

Something of an unofficial NCAA kickoff tonight, with ESPN hosting a great doubleheader: Michigan State v Arizona and Indiana v Kansas. These are all Top 12 teams. We've got great freshmen on all of these teams, as well as some really good returning players. It's a shame that the talented wing Terrence Ferguson decided to play professionally in Australia rather than attend Arizona, as he may have been among the top wings--to say nothing of top freshmen--in the country. But this is a great couple of games.

MSU forgot to play defense on the last play of the game. Having said that, by the time the middle to the end of the Big 10 season winds down, these guys are gonna be GOOD. Miles Bridges is already a stud. The one thing that may bite them is that they've got no big man; both bigs they were counting on are hurt, and who knows when they'll be back.

It really does seem as if the thing that burns Mike's ass more than anything else is that Brian doesn't want to write with him anymore. What I don't get is the assertion that this wound has been festering since Brian went to work with Tony Asher and Van Dyke Parks in 1966. By then, Brian had already struck up short-lived but basically exclusive (for a while) writing partnerships with Gary Usher and Roger Christian (I mean, Christian wasn't a "writing partner," but you know what I mean). How were Asher and Parks any different?

And then Brian went on to write a ton of songs with Mike during the '67-'70 period, almost as many as they had written during the '62-'65 period.

Probably because (rightly or wrongly), a lot of people consider the work he did with Asher and VDP to be Brian's "best". It was considered to be real art. The stuff that Mike wrote with Brian a lot of times ends up getting pushed into the "chicks and cars" pile, and is looked at in an entirely different way. Mike probably is bothered by the fact that the work he did with Brian isn't held in the same kind of regard, as far as a lot of critics go (which seems to matter to Mike, quite a bit).

One major difference between Pistol and Kobe: teams' winning percentages.

Z. Randolph looked really nice against us. I'll say one thing, he seemed to like Fizdale's offense: he was chucking shots from a bit further out with glee.

Randolph has had a much better career than I thought he would have. He had some pretty good stats when he was in Portland, although that was during the infamous "Jail-Blazers" years, and I figured that he'd eventually do something so stupid off the court that he would get cut and never play in the league again. A lot of his issues seemed to be off the court (even before he came to MSU, there were whispers about his maturity). After getting traded a few times and ending up in Memphis, he seemed to get his act together.

I don't think the league needs anymore teams, except for Seattle.

I loved those Supersonic teams of the 90's. My Pistons had had their run, and Chicago was the dominant team (and I hated them. HATED.) So I hopped on the Seattle bandwagon. Besides, for some reason I like the name Supersonics. I also like those Denver Nuggets 80's jerseys, so my opinions may not seem to make very much sense.

I'm pretty sure that quite a few years ago, Frank did an illustration for "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow", and it went up for bid on Ebay. I can't remember much about why he did it to begin with.

About 15 years ago, there was an auction on Ebay conducted by (I believe) Derek Bill, who was a big time BB collector (as a lot of you know). Anyway, the auction was for a SMiLE cover slick reproduction, but it would be personalized by Frank Holmes. Also, you'd get all of the original SMiLE illustrations, but they were on a kind of thin cardboard. I actually won it! It isn't like any of it is really rare or anything; I was just thrilled to get the SMiLE cover with Frank's autograph on it.

I'll get back with you when I see that Drummond can actually make a free throw 

That was fantastic! Great work!