July 17,2015
Or, Give It Up to Jeannie and Fire McGwire
I\’m not writing about the Angels (though I\’ve admired Mike Scioscia since his Dodger Blue days, and, wished he\’d been named manager of the Dodgers! [besides, are they really an L.A. team?])! Nor am I writing about the Clippers who seem to have created their round ball niche. Rather, I\’m writing about the concerns I have with present day Dodgers and Lakers ownership and management: they don\’t seem to love L.A.!
These two teams need captains! Successful franchises have field/floor marshals!!
Kobe is the longest-serving Laker — with 17-years-in (but only 14 full seasons). We all know that Kobe is NOT captain material! Nobody really wants to play with the guy. I don\’t even think Kobe supports the Lakers when he is out and they\’re at home: a team leader would at least sit with his team. Pau probably had the second-longest tenure and may have made a great captain if he had been able to play his game under Mike D\’Antoni. But Pau was under siege and subsequently, got out of Dodge!
No one else has been with Lakers for more than 3 years (this would have been Jordan Hill\’s fourth season I believe, but he never showed signs of being that necessary floor leader [certainly not with Kobe on the team]). None of these guys seems to love L.A. like Magic or Kareem or Fish or Vlade or Foxy did! You\’ve got to love the city you represent!
Now with Fish, ah with Fish, we had someone who loved L.A. and had the respect of the team: Fish was the team captain in his stints with the Lakers (though I don\’t know about his coaching ability)! When he was foolishly dealt, Fish made it his prime objective to get back to play for L.A.! That\’s what we need again — a player proud to put on the uniform!
Is there a die-hard L.A. Hoopster we can bring back to lead this team (in what will hopefully be Kobe\’s last season)? Will D\’Angelo Russell emerge as the Stephan Curry of this team?? That\’s a hellovalotof pressure to put on that kid. But wouldn\’t it be great if he were up to the task?! He seems like he could love L.A. If Kobe goes down early in the season then we might see Russell, Randall and Clarkson creating an exciting young nucleus from whence a captain might emerge.
As for the Dodgers –they will probably \”back into the playoffs\” and lose to a team able to play small ball! The longest serving Dodgers are Kershaw and Ethier; who seem to enjoy playing in L.A. but don\’t show leadership qualities: Messers Subway and Hollywood. Everyone else that currently plays for the Dodgers has been here for- 3-years-or-less — except AJ.
I had hoped Ellis might step into the role (he\’s got those Corbin Bernsen looks) — but now that we know he is trade bait — we can\’t hang the leadership mantle on him! Matt Kemp might have been a great candidate — but as a sometimes malcontent, and oft-injured player, he could certainly foment clubhouse dissension — hence his trade to our arch rivals.
That leaves Justin Turner and Adrian Gonzales. Justin has that Grizzly Adams look, and, a pretty good game that could lead to him being a field marshal (if the management keeps him [look how we lost Uribe]); but Adrian doesn\’t seem like he wants the job — which means that our rookies (like those young Lakers) are going to have to mature and galvanize: we may have leadership by committee for awhile (if we can get to the World Series a leader may emerge). And don\’t rule out Yasiel — the entire Dodger team might be speaking Spanish before too long…
But as long as Mark McGwire is the hitting coach (and I\’m not that sure about life-long Yankee, Mattingly, either) — we won\’t be able to beat the Cardinals or the Pirates or the Giants! McGwire coaches our lads to swing for the seats instead of scratching out hits! He might very well be the Trojan Horse for St. Louis — and that\’s why he\’s with us and not coaching in St. Louis!? If you love L.A. Dodger ownership, fire McGwire!
And Jimmy Buss — if you loved L.A. — you wouldn\’t have treated Phil like you did! If you love L.A. — step down and see what kind of love your sister can bring…though I doubt she can get her boyfriend back — I bet the lads play better for her!