Page 4 November 30, 2017
Lakers, Rookie Ball Experiencing Early Season Highs and Lows
monster games at various times during the
year. Ball, however, is the engine that runs
the Lakers offense as the point guard. For
all of his good also certainly comes the bad.
Lonzo’s shooting percentage –which was
hovering around 31 percent prior to the game
against the Clippers this past Monday, ranked
worst among rookies who have averaged at
least 10 minutes per game. His three-point
percentage–at 25 percent–also ranked last
among rookies who have attempted more
than one three-pointer per game. That poor
shooting, from a player who constantly has
the ball in his hands, has done its part to
not only lead to deficits in games, but also
losses this season.
Just like Lonzo, the 2017-18 Lakers team
has been full of good play and bad play so
far this season. That being said, what more
can you expect from a team that is full of
youth and inexperience? The takeaway from
the first quarter of this regular season is
that the Lakers are good enough to at least
keep their heads above the water against
elite talent, which should certainly garner
attention from some big-name free agents
come the trade deadline and the offseason.
Once a legitimate, big-name superstar is
added to this core of young talent, the sky
will once again be the limit for the Lakers
and all of their fans. •
— Aserrao6@yahoo.com
By Adam Serrao
Oftentimes, an NBA fan base can be overly
excited when a player is taken high in the
draft. Expectations become understandably
high as a new hope is enlivened for an
organization. Between drafting Julius Randle,
D’Angelo Russell, Brandon Ingram, and
even now, Lonzo Ball, Los Angeles Laker
fans know all about that feeling. A complete
rebuild certainly takes time in a post-Kobe
Bryant era. Lakers fans have also learned
that the hard way. There is no doubting that
L.A. is surely inexperienced up to this point
in the regular season and their unpredictable
play does its own part in portraying that. Not
every prospect that puts on the purple and
gold is going to be the next Kobe--not even
Lonzo. Despite various inconsistencies to
start the year, however, an extremely young
Lakers team may just be on the right track
towards success.
The new star of Los Angeles, at least as
far as the Lakers are concerned, is Lonzo
Ball. Ball has been the starting point guard
of the Lakers ever since the first day of the
regular season. Despite Ball’s inconsistent
play, head coach Luke Walton and the
rest of the coaching staff have handled the
situation perfectly by keeping the point guard
in the starting lineup, despite his off days
and subpar shooting from the field. “The
benefit is he gets the game experience,”
Walton explained of the sometimes shaky
play of Lonzo. “Whether it’s close games,
it’s blowouts, it’s playing against top elite
point guards that do different things. He
gets all that in-game experience on the go
and gets to learn from it all.”
Grading Ball on approximately 20 games
of NBA play after he spent just one season
in college at the age of 20 years old
certainly sounds like an unfair thing to do.
When you play in Los Angeles and you’re
the number two overall pick in the draft,
though, it sort of comes with the territory.
Despite what critics may say of Lonzo, he
is certainly young and inexperienced and
at times looks overwhelmed on the grand
stage of the NBA while taking on superstar
veterans like John Wall, Russell Westbrook
and more. Even Kobe had a horrible first
year in the NBA, though, so this isn’t
necessarily the time to pull out the report
card on the first-year guard.
Despite the inexperience and
inconsistencies, however, Ball and the rest
of the Lakers team have shown flashes of
brilliance–which is certainly something that
you want to see from a group of young
players. As unlikely as it may seem, most
of that brilliance has come on the defensive
side of the ball. After ranking dead last in
defensive efficiency in each of the last two
seasons, the Lakers--behind Ball, Ingram and
surprising rookie sensation Kyle Kuzma-
-were ranking in the league’s top five in
defensive efficiency as of last weekend.
While it is always glaringly obvious when
Lonzo struggles on the offensive side of the
court, Walton enjoys giving the rookie credit
for the team’s newly invigorated defensive
efficiency. “He’s got great anticipation and
great hands as a player already, so he’s able
to get a lot of loose balls for us,” Walton
explained. “Or he comes down and strips
offensive rebounds that guys don’t really
see him hanging around, which gets us
extra possessions obviously.”
Those extra possessions have turned
into victories for the Lakers too. Less than
two weeks ago, Ball recorded his second
triple-double of the season to join Magic
Johnson as the only other rookie in Lakers
history with multiple triple-doubles in their
rookie seasons. Ball recorded 11 points,
16 rebounds and 11 assists in a 127-109
victory over the Denver Nuggets, showing
that when he’s on his game, Los Angeles
can put points up on the scoreboard. “You
should always play better in front of your
fans,” Ball said after that game. “I’m just
trying to put on a good show for them
and win at the same time.” The Lakers
were 5-5 at Staples Center dating back to
last weekend.
So far in the young season, as Lonzo Ball
goes, so do the Lakers. That’s not to say
that Randle, Ingram and Kuzma, among
other Lakers, have not come through with
Politically Speaking
One Man’s Opinion Another Man’s Opinion
It’s Finally Time to Stop Shining
the Spotlight on the Talentless
By Cristian Vasquez
In our 24-hour news cycle, it’s hard
to ignore people who seek the spotlight
despite lacking any real talent to justify
the attention they seek. Perfect example is
loudmouth and annoying media personality
LaVar Ball. For the few lucky enough to
not know who this pseudo-celebrity is,
his son Lonzo Ball was a star basketball
player with UCLA and is now trying to
reach NBA glory with the Lakers. So yes,
that’s how the dad became famous--through
the accomplishments of his son. In any
case, last week the oldest of the Balls made
headlines for refusing to acknowledge that
President Trump had a hand in his second
son’s release from China where the youngster
was being accused of shoplifting with two
other UCLA basketball teammates. Usually,
I’d say ignore Mr. Ball and he’ll go away-
-but in this case, it’s hard to ignore such
ungratefulness and ignorance.
Ball’s reaction to his son’s release from
China highlights a bigger problem in our
society: People are so filled with selfishness
that they have forgotten to say thank
you. This epidemic extends beyond Ball and
his feud with the President because television
and the Internet are fueled by these
shenanigans. Society rewards the loudmouth
that “stirs” things up by “keeping it real”
and saying what they feel. Since Facebook
and Twitter became household amenities,
we can make a list of insignificant people
who have made headlines because of
their obnoxious behavior and have been
monetarily rewarded despite their lack of
talent (remember Jersey Shore? Heard of
the Kardashians?).
Watching people act like they lack common
sense has become our version of
Roman Coliseum fights. It’s a train wreck
that nobody wants to look away from and
the consequences come in the form of LaVar
Ball. These people know that being outlandish
will make them trend online and will put
them on a radio station or in a newsroom for
an unnecessary interview. Let’s stop raising
their profile. Ironically, mentioning Ball in
this keeps his name in the limelight--but
when we stop listening to the self-centered
hacks with a false sense of grandeur of this
world, this behavior will end and at the very
least slow down.
I personally do not know how much influence
President Trump had in having the Ball
kid and his teammates released from China.
However, I don’t for one second doubt that the
President didn’t use his leverage to save these
kids from life-changing consequences. Unlike
the senior Ball, the three UCLA athletes did
thank the President for his help and at their
young age demonstrated more humility than
the grown-up. It’s time that we stop looking
at the wreckage. Just like we shouldn’t slow
down on the freeway to look at the accident on
the shoulder, let’s stop looking at these fringe
hacks with a loud mouth and no substance
and keep society moving forward. When we
stop rewarding selfishness and begin being
grateful again, the loudmouths will become
irrelevant once more. •
Bloom is off the Rose, as Once-
Esteemed Journalist Gets Canned
By Duane Plank
As more lefty miscreants, including the
respected journalist Charlie Rose, get humbled
by their deviant sexual proclivities, it was
recently divulged that the worst-kept secret
in the hall rooms, boardrooms and bedrooms
of Washington, D.C. was the existence of a
taxpayer-funded slush account that is utilized to
silence and pay off sexual harassment accusers.
Amazing! Your money, my money is cavalierly
used by Washington pols as the basis
for checks they write to buy the shutting-up
of their accusers. And it has been going on
for a very long, long time, with those in the
know turning a blind eye to rampant sexual
shenanigans and tawdry behavior from our
elected leaders.
Millions have been paid out to “settle”
harassment cases racked up by shameless
politicians and others in power. And if that
isn’t bad enough, the deck is totally stacked
against the victim’s accusation ever seeing the
light of day. The harassment “whistle-blower”
faces a well-constructed maze of obstacles as
she or he tries to get justice.
The accusers must attend mandatory counseling
sessions lasting up to 30 days. Then there
is a “mediation” period which can last up to 30
days. If the accusers still want to continue with
the convoluted process, they will be forced to
endure an administrative hearing before filing
a federal lawsuit.
These payoff steps have been around the
“swamp” since about 1995. For the past 20
years or so, more than $15 million of our
money has been forked over to settle harassment
accusations and make them disappear.
So, who was accused, who got bribed, and
how much was the check written for in the
cover-up culture of our nation’s capital? And
why didn’t the accused politician write the
check from his or her campaign cash account,
or from his or her own personal account?
If anyone knows who was accused and who
was getting paid, no one is talking. No shock
there, right? It seems the main goal after winning
an election is staying in power, staying in
office. Certainly not implementing the taxpayer’s
business... Ergo, nothing seems to get done even
when the pols are “working”--between taking
their extended breaks to visit their disdained
constituents, or by taking vacations. No repeal
and replace, no tax reform, no this, no that.
Anyone paying attention back in the day
knew that, allegedly, a lot of dudes named
Rose were abusers and miscreants. We had Pete
Rose, one of the greatest hitters in baseball,
who was caught dallying with an underage
gal back in the day. Don’t remember if she
was 14 or 16. Or if he was 46 or 64 when
he dallied with a young gal. Then there was
NBA player Derrick Rose, who, along with
his posse of hangers-on was accused of some
not-so-pleasant encounters with women. No
word on whether rocker Axl Rose has had
dodgy dealings with women.
The one-time revered journalist Charlie Rose
accomplished the employment trifecta when
he was canned by CBS, PBS and Bloomberg
on the same day when his tawdry actions
came to light. Another proud day in American
journalism! •