If I were Mitch Kupchak ... I'd be a lot taller but probably not any smarter
Whither the Los Angeles Lakers?
Kobe Bryant is 28, but he has 11 seasons and 915 games on his odometer and probably reached his peak these past two seasons.
If the Los Angeles Lakers are going to contend for a championship before Kobe is Just Another Guy, Kupchak & Co. need to act. Now. No more "waiting for the kids to develop."
Even if that means giving up prized youngster Andrew Bynum (and others) in a trade for Kevin Garnett or Jermaine O'Neal.
Andrew Bynum, 19, may be a very good player. Someday. Garnett and O'Neal are impact players this minute.
Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers can't wait.
Jason Kidd would be a nice addition, but he is owed $40 million over the next two years, and the Nets probably would insist on Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum, thus denying the Los Angeles Lakers the ammunition to get the inside player they need.
The Los Angeles Lakers will have to look elsewhere for someone to run the offense. Jordan Farmar isn't ready, so the Los Angeles Lakers should pursue a veteran with the free-agent exception of about $5 million. Mike Bibby probably won't play for that but someone such as Denver's Steve Blake might.
Best-case Los Angeles Lakers scenario:
They get Garnett or O'Neal for Kwame Brown and Andrew Bynum, keep Odom and sign Bibby with the exception. Chances of it happening: Just north of zero.
Signing free-agent forward Luke Walton should be a Los Angeles Lakers priority. Every great team has role players of the Walton sort.
The Los Angeles Clippers have about a 1 percent chance of getting one of the top two picks May 22 in the NBA draft lottery - Greg Oden or Kevin Durant, that is. Maybe Donald Sterling's team will get lucky.
Nah.
Los Angeles Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy didn't exactly have a stellar season. He insisted the club sign Chris Kaman, who stunk it up all year, and tried to dump Corey Maggette, who led the late playoff push.
Dunleavy would get ripped regularly if he were coaching the Los Angeles Lakers instead of the back-under-the-radar Clips.
Houston's Tracy McGrady has to be the most heralded player never to make the second round of the NBA playoffs. T-Mac's 0-6 in the playoffs is ugly.
Roger Clemens has the greatest gig going in sports history - playing 3-4 months a season for about $1 million a week. For the Yankees, this year. For the Astros, in 2006.
Ken Griffey Jr., onetime San Bernardino Spirit farmhand, could be chasing Barry Bonds in the career-homer race had he stayed healthy a few more years. Through age 30, Griffey hit 438 homers, averaging 37 per season.
Had he maintained that pace the next six seasons, he would have had 660 entering the 2007 season, rather than 563.
Bonds had 494 career homers to Griffey's 438 after the 2000 season, and Griffey was nearly 5<MD+,%30,%55,%70>1/<MD-,%0,%55,%70>2 years younger. But Griffey has missed 418 games since Opening Day 2001. And Barry started using "flaxseed."
Griffey hit 11 homers while playing 58 games for the San Bernardino Spirit in 1988. Wonder if anyone kept any of the baseballs Junior hit out of Fiscalini Field.
Rest assured, the Anaheim Ducks would rather face San Jose than Detroit in the Stanley Cup Western Conference finals. The Ducks were 5-2-1 vs. San Jose this season, and would have home-ice advantage and easy travel. They were 2-2 vs. the Red Wings and would open in Detroit - and make the long trip back twice more if the series went seven games.
Detroit leads San Jose 3-2, with Game 6 tonight.
Kim Clijsters quit tennis suddenly Sunday, at age 23, and her explanation - too many injuries, too much pain - reminded us of Stephanie Rehe, the San Bernardino native who was ranked as high as No. 10 in the world in 1989 but played her last match in 1993 at age 23.
Rehe had back and knee injuries and in 1997 said she would trade her career earnings to have back her health.
Of all the famous faces at ringside for the Mayweather-De La Hoya fight Saturday, perhaps the most surprising to see was that of Sen. John McCain. Turns out McCain is a big fight fan.
If Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Oscar De La Hoya don't pull off a rematch, a fight that might generate some interest would be Pomona's Shane Mosley and Mayweather. Two technicians going at it.
Mayweather says it won't happen. "I don't fight sparring partners," he said last week, referring to Mosley helping De La Hoya train.
Does anyone on the planet make a living betting on horses? Seems unlikely. Very.
Kudos: To Roger Clemens, for making the system work for him.
Condolences: To the other 749 big-leaguers, who have to show up for 162 games.
Lookalikes: Clemens, actor Bruce Willis.
Where are they now? Nicole "Peanut" Kajitani, CIF-Southern Section Division II 2006 softball player of the year at Cajon High School, is a freshman utility player at second-ranked Tennessee - which swept a doubleheader from top-ranked Alabama on Sunday to win the Southeastern Conference title. Kajitani hit .250 in 45 games for the 53-4 Volunteers.
They said it: "Losing in the first round is not what we want to accomplish. We feel we owe ... the city more than that." Mitch Kupchak, Los Angeles Lakers general manager.
And finally: Admitting you have a problem is Step 1 on the road to recovery. Now start dealing, Mitch.
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