The world according to Jim:
• Aren’t there times that you, too, wished you somehow had the wherewithal to be a team owner, or at least executive – and the outspokenness (or, more accurately, lack of diplomacy) to tell an especially difficult player agent exactly what’s on your mind?
If so, how would you have responded to Rich Paul’s passive-aggressive statement last weekend, which suggested that LeBron James’ decision to opt into the final year of his Lakers contract at $52.6 million actually translated into, maybe, a threat to seek a trade if the team didn’t whip itself into championship contender shape? …
• Please, send me your suggestions. Some of them might even get into print. …
• Also, does anyone want to explain how new Laker Deandre Ayton fits into that championship contention profile? As much as I resist commenting on a player’s motivation or effort level – if you don’t see them every day, in practices as well as games, you can’t truly know – I see former No. 1 draft pick Ayton and I immediately think of former Clippers No. 1 overall pick Michael Olowokandi. And that’s not good. …
• The old basketball saying, which I believe was coined by Al McGuire – correct me if I’m wrong – is, “You can’t teach height.” But if that’s all there is, that’s not good, either. …
• What should have come out of the Lakers’ front office after Paul’s statement last weekend, but didn’t: “No, LeBron will not be traded, but thanks for throwing it out there and putting everybody on edge. And if he really valued ‘a realistic chance of winning it all,’ maybe he could have opted out, re-signed for less and created more salary cap space for impactful signings. (Like, maybe, keeping Dorian Finney-Smith.)”
I suppose that’s part of the reason I’m not working in anybody’s front office. …
• For those still trying to figure out why getting to the NBA’s “second apron” under the salary cap is so onerous – the payroll level at which that kicks in for the 2025-26 season is $207.8 million – consider: If you go over, basically you can only sign your own free agents, draft picks and minimum contract players and are limited to trades where you receive less in player salaries than you’re giving away. Stay above the second apron for three years in a five-year span and your first-round pick is liable to be bumped to the end of the round. …
• The threat of the second apron is why the Boston Celtics traded Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday, which with Jayson Tatum’s torn Achilles tendon pretty much put Boston into semi-rebuilding mode. The Lakers, according to Spotrac, are $19.7 million clear of the first apron and $31.6 million clear of the second, but the summer is still young. …
• And if you’re complaining about parity – as in different champions each of the last seven years, and two teams in this year’s NBA Finals who not only represented small markets but both had payrolls below the luxury tax threshold of $187.9 million – blame the collective bargaining agreement that spawned this system. The days of the Power of Three, the concept that having three superstars gave you a substantial edge, are over. …
• This week’s quiz, and it’s a two-parter: Wednesday night Clayton Kershaw became the 20th pitcher in major league history to record 3,000 strikeouts, and as we noted he’s just the third of those to have spent his entire career with one team, along with Walter Johnson and Bob Gibson. First question: Which other members of the 3,000 Club have Dodgers ties? Second question: Which of those pitchers has played for the most franchises in his career? Answers below. …
• In his postgame remarks Wednesday night Kershaw referenced that one-franchise status and basically confirmed what we all have known: He’s going to finish his career in the same uniform in which he started, and when the time comes for him to go into the Hall of Fame – is there any doubt? – he’ll do so with an L.A. on his cap. …
• “I don’t know if I put a ton of stock in being with one team early on,” he said. “Just kind of something that happened, you know, and over time, I think as you get older (you) appreciate one organization a little bit more. And, you know, the Dodgers have stuck with me too. It hasn’t been all roses. I know that. So there’s just a lot of mutual respect, I think. And I’m super grateful now, looking back to get to say that I spent my whole career here and I will spend my whole career here … I have a lot more appreciation for it now, for sure.” …
Quiz answer, Part I: Besides Kershaw, Don Sutton (No, 7, 3,574 strikeouts), Max Scherzer (No. 11, 3,418 and counting with Toronto), Greg Maddux (No. 12, 3,371) and Pedro Martinez (No. 15, 3,154) have all worn the Dodger uniform.
Sutton spent 16 seasons in L.A. and compiled 2,696 strikeouts as a Dodger. Scherzer, who starts against the Angels on Saturday in Toronto, became the 19th to reach 3,000 during his lone half-season with the Dodgers (a swinging strikeout of the Padres’ Eric Hosmer in the sixth inning on Sept. 12, 2021, a game in which he retired the first 22 men in order and had an immaculate inning).
Maddux finished his career with L.A. – alongside the rookie Kershaw in 2008 – and Pedro Martinez started his career with the Dodgers before being traded to Montreal for Delino DeShields after the 1993 season. As then-General Manager Fred Claire later wrote in his autobiography, regarding the trade of eventual Hall of Famer Martinez, “There are no mulligans in baseball.” …
• Quiz answer II: Gaylord Perry (No. 8, 3,534) played for eight teams: San Francisco, Cleveland, Texas, San Diego, the New York Yankees, Atlanta, Seattle and Kansas City. Next were Scherzer with seven (and counting) and Steve Carlton with six. …
• And, of course, the king of the K, Nolan Ryan (No. 1, 5,714), recorded 2,416 of them in his eight seasons as an Angel. Additionally, Bert Blyleven (No. 5, 3,701) recorded his final 270 in three seasons with the Angels, appropriate for a guy who grew up in Garden Grove.
jalexander@scng.com