By Tim Peterson
I know it’s been awhile since I’ve pumped out “The Peterson Principle” but I just woke up. I was sleeping through the NBA Finals.
Anybody else not feeling this series? No Kevin Durant, a banged up Klay Thompson, a limping Andre Iguodala, and Boogie Cousins. Is that really Boogie Cousins? And then as a bonus we get the Toronto Raptors. Maybe LeBron James in the Finals all of these years wasn’t such a bad thing after all.
There’s just no juice. Warriors-Raptors was bad enough but a depleted Warriors team without Durant – Raptors? There’s just nothing there. Okay Kawhi Leonard is great and he’s having a real nice post season run. He’s the only intriguing thing about these Finals. But beyond that, it’s duller than an episode of “Keeping up with the Kardashians.” Here’s hoping that Kawhi and company put an end to this misery Monday night.
Speaking of Kawhi, the Clippers shouldn’t count him out just yet. Even if Toronto wraps this thing up this week as expected Leonard is not guaranteed to stay. After all it’s Toronto. If anything he might be more apt to leave because he already showed he can win a title in Canada. Why not try his luck with the Clips? And if he led the Clippers to a title he could literally own LA with LeBron being reduced to second fiddle. Anybody ready for a Kawhi Leonard statue outside Staples Center?
If the Raptors do raise the banner Monday night, and I’m praying to the basketball Gods that they do, the best part of the basketball season begins. Will Kawhi bolt for LA? Where will K.D. end up? How about Thompson? Does he re-sign with the Warriors? Do the Lakers offer the entire roster for Anthony Davis? I say sure, go for it. What about Kyrie Irving, Kemba Walker, Jimmy Butler or Chris Paul? Any movement there? The Rockets already said they were ready for a complete rebuild.
By the way what’s with all of the K’s involved this year in NBA free agency? K.D, Klay, Kawhi, Kyrie, Kemba…where’s Kyle Korver?
One more thing about the NBA Finals. Mark Stevens is a moron. I don’t care if the guy is worth $2 billion as reported, he’s an idiot. What’s he thinking shoving Kyle Lowry after he went into the stands after a loose ball? What? A player is not allowed to go into the stands to try to make a play? Is this guy so ignorant to the game that he thought Lowry was trying to start some sort of problem by going into the stands? How can this be when he’s an investor in the Warriors? Then he drops a couple of F-bombs on Lowry…this guy is an embarrassment to himself and the Golden State organization. He’s lucky he got off with a slap on the wrist when Adam Silver only hit him with a one-year suspension.
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Speaking of LeBron James if the Lakers strike out this summer in free agency they should consider trading him. At that point it will be clear that nobody wants to play with him and he’ll only have two years left on his contract. The Lakers will need to build around the young players and then maybe a free agent will be more likely to sign minus LBJ. Jeff Van Gundy said the same thing earlier this year while broadcasting a game on ABC and was hammered for it. But it’s not a bad idea.
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Cody Bellinger is getting the Barry Bonds treatment in San Francisco. He was walked intentionally three times Saturday night in a 7-2 win over the Giants. Funny, I’ve heard the narrative this week that he Dodgers are so good they’re boring.
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Former Mid Valley staffer/current assistant football coach at El Monte Big George Hernandez sent me an interesting idea for a story called “From the Mid to the Bigs” that would chronicle players that we covered as amateurs that have now hit the big time. We would feature athletes such as Joseph “Jo Jo” Diaz, Dominic Breazeale, Ty France, Rashaad Penny, Elijah Penny, James “Boobie” Williams, Keith Smith, Ryan Tucker and Fernando Noriega. It’s a great concept but the problem is there are so many more. I’d have to do some more research before I post this. And as I get older I keep adding more to the list. Kinsley Washington, who’s base hit last week drove in the winning run that lifted UCLA to a NCAA Softball championship over Oklahoma played at La Salle here locally and I had the privilege of covering several of her games. I saw Ryan Hollins, former NBA player and current NBA analyst, play for Muir back in the day. I remember a game specifically at Gabrielino in the playoffs when he took apart the Eagles. It will be coming soon, but I don’t want to leave anybody out.
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Not sure where Nin Burns II will end up playing football this year – last I heard he was practicing with Diamond Ranch – but one place I’m guessing it won’t be is Covina. After spending the last few months away from the program and running through sets with somebody else, it would be a little awkward for either side to have him don a Colts uniform again.
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Three big passing league tournaments will be held over the next three weekends. Saturday June 15th is the Rumble at the Ranch at El Rancho, June 22nd is the SGV Shootout at Arroyo and June 28th and 29th is the Air Assault at Bonita. Good stuff.
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For 20 years I was never knocked over on the sidelines. Now twice in the last eight months I’ve taken a couple of pretty good shots. Last August, Maury Rams IV leveled me at Monrovia in a scrimmage against Glendora. Then four weeks ago I was laid out on the South sideline at the North-South All-Star game at Arcadia by a player who got shoved on the way out of bounds. As I was shaking off the cobwebs while trying to remember my first name South DC Donald Bernard came over to help me to my feet and ask me if I was ok. All I could think of was Danny Glover’s line as he played Roger Murtaugh in “Lethal Weapon”. “I’m getting too old for this s***!”
That’s my principle.
Tim can be reached at tim.midvalleysports@gmail.com or on Twitter @tspeterson40.
TP,
If you want to have a lot of comments , you’re going to have to put a lot more football in
I always found it amazing how the ref standing behind the linebackers does not get killed on every play and wonder how can he concentrate on calling penalties when he is dodging 3oo lb. bullets. As for the NBA they lost me decades ago. Not sure why but I can’t name you two Laker or Clipper players other than Lebron. Maybe Chick Hearn made the players memorable like Vin did for the Dodgers.
The Lakers should never have signed Lebron in the first place. The guy is clearly out of gas, having worked his last magic in Cleveland. The team is throwing money away on his contract, same as they did with that $40 million two-year Kobe Bryant ‘farewell’ gift. How many radical re-workings of the roster and hair-brained suggestions from the Rambises will it take to show darling Jeannie that she can’t run this thing the way her daddy did? Fact is, the NBA rules have changed so much, even if old man Buss were alive and in his prime, HE couldn’t operate the way he used to either.
As for the Raptors-Warriors series, the injuries which Golden State fans will no doubt site as proof that they deserved a third consecutive title are PART OF THE GAME. Did it occur to anyone that playing all those extra high-stakes games over three years takes a toll on the human body? Last I checked, those Warrior players have bodies made of bone, muscle and connective tissue, same as us. That living matter can only take so much stress, and then it breaks or tears. So Golden State’s mounting injuries are not a rash of bad luck, but instead reality asserting itself.
Tim, keep your head on a swivel. You’re the last of a dying breed.
As far as the dodgers go, that’s not a bad thing. The name of the game is to win the last game of the season. Nobody cares if you don’t.