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Even with the LA Clippers off to a good start for the 2020-21 season they were still looking for their identity. It looks like they found it. With a record of 13-5, the third best record in the NBA, they look like a title contender despite their recent problems with COVID-19. The Clippers rest in third place in the Western Conference trailing the other team that pays rent at Staples Center, the Lakers (14-4) and the surprising Utah Jazz. The Clippers are finding a way to pass the ball more than...
The coaching staff of new head coach Brandon Staley is coming together very quickly. The Los Angeles Chargers announced the hiring of three coaches to serve as coordinators: Joe Lombardi as offensive coordinator, Renaldo Hill as defensive coordinator and Derius Swinton II as special teams coordinator. The three have a combined 29 seasons of NFL coaching experience. Familiarity is important to Staley, as all three have worked with Staley in the past. Lombardi coached Staley for one season at...
The Los Angeles Dodgers agreed to terms with right-handed pitcher Tommy Kahnle on a two-year deal through the 2022 season. Kahnle, 31, joins the Dodgers after spending the last four years with the New York Yankees. In four seasons with the Yankees, he went 6-3 with a 4.01 ERA (50 ER/112.1 IP) and 157 strikeouts in 129 games, including a 3-2 record with a 3.67 ERA (25 ER/61.1 IP) in career-high 72 games in 2019. The New York native made one appearance in 2020, tossing one scoreless inning with...
Ready or not the NBA playoffs start this weekend with the play-in game on Saturday against the eighth and ninth seeded teams in the Western conference at 11:30 a.m. in the Bubble. If the eighth seeded team wins they will face the No. 1 seeded Lakers next week. If the ninth seeded team wins they will play a second game on Sunday to determine who advances to play the Lakers. The Clippers are the second seeded team in the conference and they will play the seventh seeded Dallas Mavericks next week....
The L.A. Clippers have signed free agent Joakim Noah to a new contract, it was announced today by Clippers President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank. Per team policy, terms of the agreement were not released. Noah, who signed a 10-Day contract with the Clippers on March 9, is a two-time NBA All-Star (2013, 2014) and former NBA Defensive Player of the Year (2014). He appeared in 42 games last season for the Memphis Grizzlies, averaging 7.1 points, 2.1 assists and 5.7 rebounds. The 6'11", 230-pound center holds career averages of 8.8...
The Covid-19 pandemic has caused shut down and delays all over society. The NBA has been shut down since March 11th and that has caused a delay for college basketball players that are early entrants to the 2020 NBA draft. Players have also been unable to do individual workouts to show teams what they can do and get an idea of where they stand in the eyes of pro scouts. Given the uncertainty of so much, it would not be a surprise if fringe players with remaining eligibility return. According to...
Kobe Bryant has been elected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, it was announced this week. Bryant spent all 20 seasons of his career with the Los Angeles Lakers and helped lead the team to five NBA Championships throughout his career. Named NBA Most Valuable Player following the 2007-08 season, Bryant averaged 25.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.4 steals in 1,346 games with Los Angeles. The league's fourth all-time leading scorer earned All-NBA honors 15 times, was...
After six years away from the playoffs the Lakers were primed and ready to make a run deep into the post season and possibly win an NBA Championship. Then the coronavirus took the wind out of their sails like getting zero presents on Christmas day. Missing a game winning shot or free throw is one thing but missing part of the season and the playoffs is totally different. This team was built to win this year. Ten of their 16 players on their roster had been in the league six years are more. They...
The Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) made all of the right moves last summer. They signed two super star players, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George to go along with a solid roster that included Patrick Beverly, Montrezl Harrell and Lou Williams. During the season they added forward Marcus Morris and guard Reggie Jackson. All the pieces to the championship puzzle were put together by a studious front office led by Lawrence Frank, President of Basketball Operations and...
Like former Clipper announcer Ralph Lawler use to say, "Fasten your seat belts" because the Lakers and Clippers are headed for a an exciting last two months of the season. Both teams have less than 30 games to play and both teams are looking to avoid injuries heading into the playoffs. The Lakers are in first place in the Western Conference with the second best record in the NBA at 41-12 and Clippers are 37-18, five games behind the Lakers. The team with the best record in the NBA, the...
The NBA trade deadline has come and gone, and the clear winner is the Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers acquired forward Marcus Morris from the New York Knicks as part of a three-team trade. The Clippers sent forward Moe Harkless and a 2020 first-round pick to the Knicks for Morris. They also traded guard Jerome Robinson, a first-round pick in 2018, to the Wizards in exchange for guard Isaiah Thomas. The Knicks also received 2nd round picks from the Clippers and Wizards. The acquisition of...
In recognition of the L.A. Clippers’ extraordinary impact both on and off the court, the Los Angeles Sports Council today named Lawrence Frank and Gillian Zucker as co-recipients of the 2019 Sports Executive of the Year award. Since a change in ownership five years ago, the Clippers have become one of the nation’s most admired sports franchises. They are a force on the hardwood — especially with the blockbuster signings of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George in the summer of 2019 — and have made an incredible difference in the L.A. communi...
Observer Editor Mitch Chortkoff covered the Lakers for over 6 decades. He was called "Dean of the Laker Writers" by many of his colleagues. Mitch passed away in July of 2018, but he had written a lot about Kobe Bryant. He we are rerunning his column from the December 3, 2017 edition of the Culver City Observer as Kobe was about to retire. "Remember kid. There's heroes and there's legends. Heroes get remembered, but legends never die." Art Lefleur as Babe Ruth in the movie "The Sandlot" It was...
It's still hard for the Lakers and the rest of the basketball world to move forward after the death of Kobe Bryant of Lakers legend Kobe Bryant and eight other people on January 26, but like they say in the entertainment world, "the show must go on." After a moving tribute to Kobe last Friday night at the Staples Center before the game against Portland, the Lakers tried to get back to work on the basketball court. They lost that game but the game seems incidental. "It's hard to put into words,"...
I have been a sports writer in the City of Los Angles for over 45 years. I have interviewed and covered some of the greatest athletes in the world. I started writing sports when I was a student at UCLA during John Wooden days so my introduction into the sports writing world started with greatness but Kobe Bryant redefined greatness. Bryant, his 13 year old daughter Gianna and seven other passengers died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas last Sunday morning. They were on their way to a girls'...
By Nick Hamilton (@NickHamiltonLA) Special to the Observer Lebron James is one of the most polarizing athletes of our generation in the NBA. On the first day of a new decade, James recorded a triple double, (31 points, 12 assists, and 13 rebounds) in a Lakers 117-107 victory over the Phoenix Suns. It was James' 89th triple double of his career. Much like the late former NBA commissioner David Stern revolutionized the game of basketball, James revolutionized the way athletes approach basketball...
By Nick Hamilton Sports Reporter The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the premiere teams in the NBA and the main reason for their early season success is the play of their dynamic duo Anthony Davis and LeBron James. Davis and James have ingratiated themselves into the championship mentality of the Laker culture. These two players have been virtually unstoppable and Davis has found himself in some elite Laker company after he scored 50 points last Sunday at the Staples Center in a win over the...
Occasionally teams look good on paper but their performances don't match the paperwork. The Clippers and Lakers look good on paper and on the court. Both teams are playing at a high level but it's still early. If they stay healthy their early season success should be the blueprint for the regular season and the playoffs. Both teams have great players surrounded by very good role players. The Clippers have Kawhi Leonard and key role players like Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell. When their other...
By Michael Johnson Special to the Observer With the National Basketball Association completing its first several days of the regular season the Western Conference is already very competitive, as anticipated, and the Los Angeles Clippers, as expected are among the league leaders. Also as expected their superstar, Kawhi Leonard, one the best all-around basketball players in the world is already putting up MVP like numbers, just like he did in last year. He's averaging nearly 30 points per game, 7....
In one of the most exciting open night games in recent memory the Clippers beat the Lakers 112-102 before a sellout crowd of over 19,000 fans last Tuesday night at the Staples Center. The game proved to have the makings of an Ali/Frazier heavy weight fight. The Lakers jumped out with an early lead in the first quarter but the Clippers bounced back to take a half time lead. By the end of the third quarter the game was tied at 85. "It was unusual to have a game like that for the first game of the...
After months of speculation and rumors Anthony Davis was introduced at a press conference at the Lakers training facility in El Segundo last Saturday. The 26 year old Davis turned the press conference into a joyous occasion that lasted about 30 minutes. Flashback to a year ago during LeBron James press conference and it was all serious business. Davis' was full of comments that could only come out of a mature 26 year star athlete. One of the greatest players in the world gave answers to...
The Los Angeles Clippers have finally arrived. The Clippers have been fighting for relevancy in a city where the Los Angeles Lakers legacy has completely dominated the professional basketball scene. On late Friday night, NBA Superstar Kawhi Leonard decided to officially come home and become a Clipper. Leonard ended up signing a max contract with the Clippers after they acquired Paul George from the Thunder in exchange for five first-round selections, two pick swaps, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and...
NBA Free Agency is like putting a puzzle together. For the thirty NBA teams, it can just be finding that missing piece. Or there can be many missing pieces. Or maybe, the puzzle needs to be completely redesigned. In the first 24 hours of NBA free agency, there are teams that fit all those descriptions. For the causal NBA fan and even a diehard NBA fan, some teams will look completely different. In the Western Conference of the NBA, where the Lakers and Clippers call home, the changes start at...
The NBA draft is rarely going to produce instant stars. The goal is to acquire cheap labor that will fill out the roster, with the hope that the players can develop into stars or solid role players. Most NBA teams use the draft to build the roster into a playoff team and will try to add a superstar through free agency to become a championship team. The Clippers are that example. The Lakers are the opposite, acquiring superstars to win now and filling the roster out with role players and...
The Los Angeles Lakers finally accomplished something that they had been trying to do since January. They traded three players and three draft choices for one of the best players and big men in the world. Anthony Davis is coming to Tinsel Town to play for the Lakers. The Lakers traded away three promising young players, Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart. Ball and Ingram were supposed to be the Lakers future but when they acquired LeBron James last year they realized their future is now....
