TrueRaiderLaker Productions is NOT Dead

 

Raider Nation...it's been 7 LONG YEARS! And did I miss this feeling of editing hype videos for you all! It's been such an emotional road to get back to this feeling since I released The Oakland Raiders: Endgame back in 2019. If you're ever wondering did I ever consider uploading another Raiders hype video the following year? To answer shortly: yes. During their first season in Las Vegas, I had something planned, but I never went through with it. Not to bring up 2020 again, but that year has impacted my life trajectory a lot and I wasn't in the right state of mind to edit another Raider hype video or any videos of that matter at that time. Probably the earliest that I was considering a return was 2024, but I've been preoccupied elsewhere with a very busy professional career. Also admittedly, it was bitter sweet to see the Raiders move out of Oakland and California entirely. So it probably wasn't the right time for me to edit another video until I get over my own 5 Stages of Grief as a Raider fan from the Bay Area before finally accepting that they have a sustainable home in Las Vegas, free from the tomfoolery of Oakland politics and their now former Coliseum MLB co-tenants, the A’s. I will be frank, I wasn’t happy with my last two Raiders hype videos. Besides the obvious reasons with the whole Khalil Mack trade in 2018 and Antonio Brown’s crashout fiasco in 2019, it was mostly poor planning on my end and just waiting until August to gather even though looking back at the edits, there were some things I was happy about. But I was running on fumes to get those videos out there before the start of the opener. Luckily both times, the Raiders were playing on Monday Night Football.

But for this project, I made sure to learn from those mistakes and plan this ahead. Because I was roadmapping this project since the beginning of February at the same time Klint Kubiak was hired as the Head Coach. I took into consideration the scenarios that the Raiders were in position to do. They had the #1 pick and in position to draft Fernando Mendoza. At the same time, Maxx Crosby is on the trade block. There’s rumors that Derek Carr might un-retire and join them. I drew up all these scenarios to make sure there was a Plan A, a Plan B, and a Plan C. Just like in football, you have a play call dialed up. But the opposing defense is giving you a different look at the line of scrimmage, so you gotta know when to call an audible and change to a different play to throw the defense off. If you’re wondering with all the cryptic “My Casino Business Plan” posts in the last few months, that was the secret codename that I named this project as. Haha. Considering it has been awhile and nobody knew. Not even my inner circle who are Raider fans and know that I made hype videos in the past knew that I was making a video in secret. They floated this idea that it was the perfect time and I’ve constantly denied I was making a hype video and I was making an original video to check out: “My Casino Business Plan.” I’ve been dropping a lot of hints on the video on my YouTube Community channel, posting images of John (Spytek) Cena, C(K)lint (Kubiak) Eastwood, Captain Kirk (Cousins), T.J. Maxx (Crosby), The (Jackson) 5, Austin (Powers), Magic (Johnson), Brock (Bowers) Lesnar, Ashton (Jeanty) Kutcher, etc. I wasn’t sure how much of the secret I gave away at that time that this was ultimately my first Raiders hype video in 7 years. And now, the secret is finally out of the bag to unveil this project that I’ve been working on for the past 6 months. So best kept secret? Or worst best kept secret? I’ll leave that up to you to decide. I had a great pool of trailer music for this project. Ranging Hi Finesse to Audiomachine, two music productions whose scores I used in my previous Raiders "From the Ashes" and "Endgame" hype videos back in 2017 and 2019. But this score in particular from Twelve Titans Music, I felt very strongly about and it resonated with the new culture that the Raiders are trying to build slowly and steadily under John Spytek and Klint Kubiak coupled by the near-perfect offseason, bringing in guys like Tyler Linderbaum, Nakobe Dean, Quay Walker, Kirk Cousins, drafting Mendoza #1, and somehow still keeping Maxx Crosby on the team! Of course, we still have some holes that the team didn’t address. But we gotta remember the old saying that “Rome wasn’t built in a day”. This roster is good enough to at the very least keep the Raiders competitive in games. This offseason is more so about bringing in players who buy into Spytek and Kubiak’s vision and want to contribute to resetting the culture of the Raiders away from its recent losing past. There will be growing pains this season because everything is new again. But trust we finally have a direction from this organization that will trend them upwards on a course for long-term, sustainable success. And I feel this video has captured this theme. Then again, we’ve sung this song every year and it hasn’t worked out. But the carousel has to stop at some point. Safe to say, we’re at a good start. You can’t ask for anything better in a culture reset by hiring a Super Bowl-winning OC as the Head Coach and drafting a Heisman Trophy winner and National Champion at #1 as the future franchise QB. If you read this far or TLDR, simply put: the hype is back and there is a "Culture Shift" brewing! Enjoy and go Raiders!

Oh yeah, and I will be in Vegas in Week 1.

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The LeBron James Laker Legacy

 

After 8 years, it is over.

Everyone is likely informed by this news. But just in case, LeBron James has announced his decision that he will NOT play for the Los Angeles Lakers this upcoming season. Basketball discourse has jumped all over this news non-stop and everybody is looking with great intrigue on this headline: "What's next for LeBron James"?

The LeBron era in Los Angeles will forever be remembered as a mixed bag. Depending on who you ask, it was either a success because it restored the Lakers to championship relevance and produced an NBA title, or it was a disappointment because one championship in eight seasons simply isn't enough for the NBA's most decorated franchise. The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle.

When LeBron signed with the Lakers in the summer of 2018, it was the spark that this franchise desperately needed. Following Kobe Bryant's retirement, the Lakers had become irrelevant by their own standards. The mystique of wearing the Purple and Gold faded. Every offseason, superstar free agents would schedule meetings with the Lakers, only to use them as leverage to secure larger contracts from their current teams or elsewhere.

Part of the blame rested on the Lakers themselves. The organization struggled to articulate a long-term vision that convinced superstar players to buy into the future of the franchise. The front office cycled through rebuilding plans, lottery picks, and coaching changes without establishing a clear identity.

Then LeBron arrived 2018 and the Lakers have become a desirable destination for superstar-caliber players again. Within a year, the Lakers successfully acquired Anthony Davis, pairing him with LeBron to form one of the league's premier duos. That partnership delivered the 2020 NBA championship, ending a decade-long title drought and giving the Lakers their 17th championship banner. Years later, the Lakers leveraged Davis in another franchise-altering move, sending him to Dallas in exchange for Luka Dončić. Whether or not that trade ultimately becomes another championship move remains to be seen, but it illustrates how LeBron's arrival fundamentally reshaped the direction of the organization.

During LeBron's 8 years, the Lakers have made the playoffs 6 times. This includes a 2019-20 championship run, no matter how many detractors try to discredit the Bubble Ring and another Western Conference Finals appearance in 2023.

Those are the positives. The negatives? One title in 8 years is underwhelming by Laker standards. There were so many opportunities to add on more in the following years. But it was all wasted away because of inner fighting with Lakers management and LeBron and Klutch Sports behind-the-scenes. 

Following the 2021 playoff disappointment against the Phoeneix Suns, both LeBron and the Lakers panicked. Looking across the league, they saw the Brooklyn Nets assembling Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving into what looked like an unstoppable superteam. Instead of staying patient, the Lakers attempted to answer with star power of their own. They traded for Russell Westbrook while adding veterans such as Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard, hoping experience and name recognition would compensate for poor roster construction. It failed spectacularly. The roster lacked shooting, spacing, perimeter defense, and chemistry. The Westbrook experiment became one of the most disappointing superteams in recent NBA history and set the Lakers back several seasons. And both LeBron and the Lakers deserve blame for wasting that year and putting in the peculiar position they are in now.

And when a team has LeBron James on the roster, they are under the microscope of mainstream sports media and basketball talking heads non-stop. The Lakers were already media darlings. But when LeBron joined, the coverage around the team increased tenfold. When the Lakers won, LeBron received the overwhelming share of the praise. When they lost, the blame often shifted toward teammates, coaches, or the front office. It became an exhausting cycle that many Lakers fans like myself grew tired of, even if it wasn't entirely LeBron's doing. His presence naturally attracts nonstop media attention unlike any other player in basketball. We also can't forget about the coaching turnover that happened under LeBron's watch, going from Luke Walton, to Frank Vogel, to Darvin Ham, and finally, to JJ Redick.

LeBron has broken a lot of statistical milestones during his Laker tenure and those statistical milestones became nightly television events, regardless of whether the team won or lost. But a lot of those games where LeBron had a record-breaking night, the Lakers typically suffered the latter. Historic accomplishments like becoming the NBA's all-time leading scorer deserved celebration, but there were also stretches where individual milestones seemed to dominate the conversation while the team struggled to consistently compete and string wins together.

Finally, there was the Bronny James situation. The Lakers' decision to draft LeBron's son was always going to invite accusations of nepotism and questions about whether a valuable roster spot was being used for reasons beyond basketball. To Bronny's credit, he showed meaningful improvement during his development and took encouraging strides last season, but the optics of the decision became yet another subplot surrounding the LeBron era.

With new ownership in place under Mark Walter and some staff from the Dodgers that followed Walter to the Lakers in front office positions, it's obvious that the franchise is going to an all new direction. They have a vision for the franchise moving forward—and that vision simply did not include extending the LeBron era indefinitely. In many ways, the signs had already been there when the Lakers committed to Austin Reaves with a four-year maximum extension. It became increasingly clear where the organization saw its future. Combined with Luka Dončić, the franchise has effectively decided to choose the future for the franchise rather than look back to a player who's still good, but he's 42 and you can't expect him to hang around forever.

With LeBron gone, new ownership, a commitment to Luka and Reaves, a lot of pressure is now falling on Rob Pelinka. This is now the offseason for him to see what he's made of as a GM. Unfortunately, his start has been far from encouraging. The Lakers have not been nearly aggressive enough in strengthening the roster around Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves so far. They are not prioritizing bringing back key free agents such as Marcus Smart and Rui Hachimura while leaving significant questions unanswered elsewhere on the roster. And Rob is definitely hearing the collective groans from Laker fans. Outside of trading for AD and trading for Luka, Rob's roster transactions throughout the years have been mostly pathetic to say the least. So, Rob's got his work cut out and he's on thin ice with this new ownership.

Now comes the next chapter. Where will LeBron James finish one of the greatest careers basketball has ever seen? Personally, I believe the answer should be Cleveland. If he wants to bow out of basketball with whatever grace/dignity he has left, finish it out with Cleveland and get the farewell tour from there. If he goes elsewhere, like the Warriors, he's gonna hear the "superteam hopper" and "mercenary ring chaser" monikers again from detractors. People will disqualify him more from the GOAT conversation, which I find very tiring in my opinion. I think LeBron has more than earned the right to punch his ticket elsewhere this time around, especially since he's old now. Appreciate him while he's around because it'll take the NBA another 20 years or so to find another abnormal freak athlete like him.

In closing, "The Age of LeBron" in Los Angeles is officially over. It has been a long marriage and it definitely wasn't perfect. But at the end of the day, LeBron did his job making the Lakers relevant again and delivering a championship. That at the very least is the bare minimum we can accept. So, thank you, LeBron. And good luck on your new team wherever that is.

Maxx'd Out

Update 3/10: BALTIMORE BACKED OUT!?!?!? This offseason's crazy.

We can now move on.

The Raiders have been quite the subject of discussion during this offseason. They have #1 overall pick in the NFL draft, which in all likelihood they will take Heisman/Natty-winning QB, Fernando Mendoza. After the Super Bowl, they went ahead and hired without question the hottest candidate in the coaching market, Super Bowl-winning Offensive Coordinator, Klint Kubiak (whom I was 100% onboard in bringing in). They have a lot cap room to go out and spend in free agency. Everything is aligned for the Raiders to fully rebuild and potentially change the culture for the better.

Except there was one big elephant in the room. It was not a matter of if, but a matter of when. And in the dead of this past Friday night, the Raiders did the thing. They traded away Maxx Crosby to the Baltimore Ravens two first round picks: one for this year at #14 overall and another for 2027.

We've all seen this movie before 7 years ago when the Raiders traded away Khalil Mack to the Chicago Bears in the midst of a contract tussle between both parties. This is the sequel. Another example of the Raiders giving away a generational defensive superstar.

But the thing is that this sequel didn't hurt as much as the first movie. Mack getting traded away hurt my soul because it came out of nowhere a few days before the start of the 2018 NFL Season. (I still to this day haven't forgiven Jon Gruden about that). This one, you were prepared for the inevitable breakup. Because Maxx made it known that he wanted out since the Raiders shut him down for the "Tank Bowl" against the New York Giants. And he made it known he wanted to compete now rather than go through another rebuilding phase. So, the noises were loud and clear. And when it got too loud, John Spytek and the Raiders decided to turn it down with this trade.

If anything, this trade is a win-win for both teams. Maxx gets to go to a contender. The Ravens are still a talented team with an established QB in Lamar Jackson, they have Derrick Henry, some pieces on defense, and a new head coach to bring them new blood. So they still have an established core there and they see Maxx as the missing piece. 

The Raiders, as much as it sucks to say, they're hitting the reset button again. But this is by design. Maxx Crosby staying on the team won't bring much benefit as he doesn't fit the timeline. The Raiders are clearly planning to build around Ashton Jeanty, Brock Bowers, and potentially Fernando Mendoza. They are without question going to be the new faces of the franchise moving forward with Klint Kubiak at the helm to help unlock their full potential. And Kubiak in the combine mentioned that they're switching their defensive scheme to a 3-4 defense and Maxx's fit in the new scheme was highly questioned because he's not the prototypical 3-4 defensive end. 

By trading away Crosby, they get more draft capital and more cap space. With the #1 overall pick #14 pick to go with picks at the top of each round, the Raiders have a chance to accelerate their rebuild. Which is easier said than done because the Raiders have been notorious in blowing their draft picks, reaching for underwhelming talent or finding diamonds in the rough but wasting them away. This is going to be a very important year for Spytek and Kubiak to lay down the vision for the Raiders to finally get the ship right.

Losing a talent like Maxx Crosby still hurts. One of our greatest pitfalls as fans of a team is that we get emotionally connected to a player that devotes his loyalty to the team and consistently performs at a high level night in and night out. And that perfectly describes Maxx Crosby. It's mind-blowing to think he's one of the few last remaining Oakland Raiders on the roster. Of course, they still have Kolton Miller and could possibly bring back Daniel Carlson and AJ Cole and maybe they bring back Alec Ingold from free agency. But Maxx is like the last standout superstar from the Oakland era. And losing a talent like him hurts. But some of us will be rooting for him. He has a chance for a ring. And hope he has a lot of success in Baltimore, just not against the Raiders.

As for the Raiders, this is the second time they pulled this. By any means, should they ensure this does NOT happen a third time. But we all can move on now and usher in a new era. With a Super Bowl-winning coach as the Head Coach and a Heisman and National Champion franchise QB potentially on the way in the draft, the Raiders can't ask for a better head start in the rebuilding phase. At this point, we just have to trust the process and hope that this team finally gets it right.

Raiders, This is Not a Difficult Decision

 

Aside from the Week 1 win against the Patriots, there was not much to celebrate about the Raiders during the 2025 season. It was just a typical year of Raiders football. The optimism turned into disappointment real quick.

We all know the old saying that "there is always next year." But in the last few years, there was not much optimism to look forward to with Raider Nation.

But this is different. The Raiders' sunk 2025 campaign awarded them the #1 overall pick in this year's draft. But of course, the #1 pick comes with skepticism. Because the last time the Raiders were in this position, they drafted some guy who's only highlight reel was throwing 90 yards deep while kneeling down on one leg. And the rest of that guy's career outlook was history.

That was nearly 19 years ago. 19 years later, the Raiders are in position to reverse that narrative: to draft a proven future franchise QB that will renew Raider Nation's hope and optimism, to change the fortunes of years of organizational football malpractice, ineptitude, and dysfunction.

We all know his name by now. But after the performances he's putting up during the College Football Playoffs, Raider Nation is singing his name in unison: Indiana Hoosiers QB and Heisman Trophy winner: Fernando Mendoza.

Granted, I don't watch too much of college football. Probably the only other time I've been invested, was when I was watching one Amari Cooper back in 2014, hoping the Raiders take him to pair with Derek Carr. That was probably the only time. With every loss this season, I keep hearing from Raiders content creators that the Raiders need to keep losing to be in position to take this QB from Indiana that will be a game changer in for this franchise.

So admittedly, I jumped on the Fernando Mendoza bandwagon. I watched highlights of Indiana's Big 10 championship match vs. Ohio State and fully watched the Playoff Bowl Games against Alabama and against Oregon, going head-to-head against another QB prospect in Dante Moore. And Raider Nation was divided between Mendoza and Moore. But after last night's game, it should be clear as day who the Raiders need to pick.

You don't need to go through Indiana's entire season because you can already tell from a small sample size that Fernando Mendoza needs to be the #1 pick. We all know he's talented and mobile and accurate. But he exhibits the intangible traits that every winning NFL QB has: leadership, toughness, an unselfish aura that'll make the other 52 players on an NFL team run through a brick wall for him. Sure his personality is a bit quirky, geeky, whatever you want to call it. But the tangible and intangible traits that Mendoza has is exactly what every NFL team wants out of a franchise QB. And as far as Raider Nation goes, with our fanbase being majorly Hispanic/Latino, this guy will potentially re-establish a fanbase that has lost its allure since moving to Vegas and being outnumbered and outgunned by opposing fans.

Regardless of what happens in the National Championship against the Miami Hurricanes, Mendoza should be a lock for that #1 pick. The Raiders tanking to take the #1 pick and trading down does not and will never compute. Even if they have holes to fill, which they do, you need to get your franchise quarterback! Because how long will they continue to patch up their QB situation before enough is enough? How many more hot Offensive Coordinators or OC's who are aspiring to be Head Coaches will pass up on the Raiders because they don't have a long-term answer at QB? All this talk on O-line this. O-line that. The Raiders have $100+M in cap space and six more rounds after the first to shore up their O-line! And whoever comes in to coach will hire a competent O-Line coach that'll have JPJ, D.J. Glaze play in their natural positions and take time to develop the absolute gems that are Charles Grant and Caleb Rogers. Oh, and Kolton Miller is still a decent, reliable Left Tackle. I think they'll be fine as long as "nepo-baby" Brennan Carroll is far away from this team with the Raiders firing his father.

So, Raiders, John Spytek, Tom Brady, Mark Davis, we are begging you. Please do not try to be the smartest people in the room. You need to complement your bonafide studs: Ashton Jeanty and Brock Bowers, your high-ceiling receiving corps in Jack Bech, Dont'e Thornton Jr., and Tre Tucker, and your O-line that'll be right again with competent coaching with a game-changing franchise QB. This Heisman-winning QB from Indiana is the true heir apparent to Derek Carr and Rich Gannon before him.

So when you're on the clock in April, the choice you make with the #1 pick is not a difficult decision to make.

There was something in the air that night.

The stars were bright.

Fernando...he's that guy.

The Trade Heard Around The World

 

I'm still in shock that this trade even happened.

Saying "Luka Doncic is a Laker" still feels like a joke. It's fake news. But it's not. 

The golden rule when it comes to following these NBA trade news is that if it hasn't been reported by Adrian Wojnarowski nor Shams Charania (more so the latter), it's not real. It a clickbait.

This trade still doesn't feel real that Shams had to confirm it not once, but multiple times on a late Saturday night that this was not a drill.

So here's the quick breakdown: the Lakers, the Dallas Mavericks, and the Utah Jazz engaged in a 3-team trade. Utah gets Jalen Hood-Schifino, one of the Clippers' 2nd round pick, and the Mavs' 2nd round pick. But the real meat behind this trade is the Lakers get Luka Doncic, Maxi Kleber, and Markieff Morris (welcome back BTW) in exchange for Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a 2029 first round pick.

That was it. That's all it took to get Luka.

Now as we're trying to get our minds settled in, let me make this perfectly clear in my opinion of this. This move is not a "win now" move. Let's be realistic here. When you look at the outlook of the roster this season, this was by no means a championship roster. Even though this team is surging and currently 5th in the West, I see this team at best getting bounced in the 1st round in the playoffs. And the biggest weakness the Lakers was that they had no other solid big man besides Anthony Davis. And now that AD is gone, the Lakers now have a big void to fill. This team is not going to win with Jaxson Hayes and Christian Koloko playing meaningful minutes. And even if and when Christian Wood creeps back into the rotation, they don't have a reliable big. Their literal frontcourt is a 40-year old LeBron, Rui, Vando, and Dorian Finney-Smith and Hayes and Koloko in that true Center spot. This team is going to get wrecked when they run into opponents that have an elite big like the Nuggets and Jokic. 

With AD no longer anchoring the paint and getting players into position defensively, the Lakers are gonna get exposed night in and night out. Luka is not a great defender. Austin Reaves not a great defender. LeBron? At this stage of his career? Not a great defender. Besides Vando and DFS who can guard positions 1-5, that is not enough to cover most of the Lakers' deficiencies. And you consider the fit too. LeBron and Luka are both ball dominant players. And one of them is going to have to sacrifice their game to get the Lakers to win basketball games. It's exciting that you have two high-IQ players that can score and pass the ball and rebound. But somebody has to cede responsibilities to make this pairing work.

That is the short-term outlook. The long-term outlook? As mentioned, LeBron is 40 and he can walk away from the NBA anytime soon. And the Lakers as a franchise needs to look at the future of this team. And they have two choices: 1) you can keep AD and build around him, but at best he's only got 2-3 more great years of basketball left before his body breaks down or 2) you can build around a 25-26 year old Luka Doncic. Weight problems aside, he's already a top 5 superstar and a MVP-caliber player and his best basketball is still yet to come.

It's simple, you choose the latter. You build around Luka freakin' Doncic! If he's available, you take it. No questions asked.

And this is what's mind boggling to me. Of all the teams to help the Lakers solve their bleak post-LeBron future, the Dallas Mavericks? This trade reminded me of the fact that Mark Cuban is no longer in charge of that franchise. He sold his majority stake. And this trade wouldn't fly with him if he was still in charge because he wants the Lakers to essentially suck forever and he'll die on that hill! But this team under the current ownership, just gifted their franchise cornerstone to the Lakers before he was able to reach the peak of his basketball career! Like we are not getting a true superstar who is washed like trades of yesteryear. We are getting a superstar that is close to his prime or at his prime already. Luka is already an offensive juggernaut, defensive deficiencies aside, weight aside. He can score from anywhere and he's an absolute magician with the ball in his hands. He's not the flashiest player nor is he super athletic, but he's incredibly crafty with the basketball. And I'm not gonna lie when I say this, but he was one of my favorite players to watch that's not on the Lakers until now. Every fantasy team I drafted, I was gunning for Luka if I was in position to draft him.

If you're a Mavs fan, I understand how confusing this is, how torn you must be because you're not used to this. This is like if they gave us Dirk Nowitzki to team up with Kobe Bryant in exchange for Pau Gasol and Shannon Brown. And the reason your team gave away Luka like that was they were "concerned" about his weight and conditioning. And they believe defense wins championships that's why they got AD. With all due respect, AD is a beast when healthy, a top two-way player in the league when healthy. And he'll finally have quality big men to play alongside with in Dereck Lively and Daniel Gafford. But with this trade, it is absolutely essential for Dallas to win now or within the next 2-3 years. So this works for them in the short-term. However, it's gonna be too much to ask an old Kyrie, and old Klay, and a soon-to-be-old AD to carry this team to a deep playoff run because all their careers, they have shown that they can't carry a team on their back. These next 2-3 years are gonna define their legacies before their careers are all said and done.

If anything to take from this trade, the Lakers had to think critically about their future. They wasted so many opportunities in the LeBron-AD era. It's sad to think the only defining moment in that era was winning that 2020 bubble championship. And we wish the best of luck to Anthony Davis in Dallas. But this trade to get Luka Doncic, it gives the Lakers' future new life. That was the first step. The 2nd step, they have to build a contender around him in 2-3 years tops. This means find him another superstar whether it's via trade, free agency, or the unthinkable option: draft and develop one and surround him with quality role players who can shoot and defend. Rob Pelinka, Jeanie Buss, JJ Reddick, you were given a rare gift. Use it well.

With that said, thank you Anthony Davis, Max Christie (solid game against NYK last night BTW), and Jalen Hood-Schifino (I forgot you were still on the team). And welcome to the Lake Show, Luka Doncic! I'm excited to see "Luka Magic" bring "Showtime" back to the Lakers in the now and into the future.

Business Decisions

And the deal has been made.

I had this in the drafts, but I figured to wait until the trade was made. So, the Raiders have shipped out Davante Adams to the Jets in exchange for a conditional 3rd round pick that could be a 2nd rounder. Adams has made it clear that he was unhappy with the situation on the Raiders and wanted out these past couple weeks. He was out with a "hamstring injury". But we all see through that facade that the Raiders were working to ship him out.

Quite frankly, I don't blame Adams for wanting out. This was a classic example of this team selling a bold face lie to a star player and unfortunately, he bought in hook, line, and sinker. Davante Adams was brought in for two reasons and two reasons only: 1) to play with his old college buddy, Derek Carr and 2) to elevate a Raiders team that went 10-7 and made the playoffs a season ago.

Both of those reasons were dismantled bit by bit thanks to the genius Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler. They ran Carr out of town with no structured plan in place to replace him at QB and slowly, but surely ruined that same squad, not putting them in position to succeed. 

When you see your homeboy who gave his life to the organization he played for be treated like crap under the new regime and then playing with downgrades like Jimmy G, Gardner Minshew, and AOC, it's understandable why Adams wants out of this mess. It also doesn't help that he's playing under a proven failure of an OC in Luke Getsy and playing behind a broken offense with no O-Line or stable running game. His business decision in showing a lack of effort against the Panthers in Week 3 was a message sent and the Raiders received it loud and clear.

Adams had two preferred destinations: the Saints and the Jets. Both of those scenarios made sense when you see who's playing at QB between both teams: his old friend Derek Carr or Aaron Rodgers, whom Adams developed quite a rapport with in Green Bay. The latter had more flexibility and the Jets are more under pressure to please Rodgers after they canned Robert Saleh last week. Adams joins an offensive unit with lots of potential with young pieces like Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson. 

For the Raiders, this is a sign of another rebuild. Though it's clear they found their No. 1 receiver of the future in Brock Bowers. So, they have at least something to build around. We just have to bear the QB play this season. Between watching Minshew or AOC at QB, it's like choosing whether to eat bull sh*t or horse sh*t. Both are awful in their own right. It would be best the Raiders to tank for a high draft pick the rest of the season to land them a QB because they definitely missed out on decent prospects this year. Season's over anyway.

All in all, this presents two mutually exclusive conclusions: Davante Adams is what the Raiders don't need and the Raiders are what Davante Adams doesn't need. The mutual parting between the two was inevitable. 

The Worst Timeline

It was a rough couple weeks to be a Lakers fan. I can tell you that. 

I'm going to be 100% transparent, I did not care about this season at all. I slept walk throughout the NBA regular season as the Lakers bore me with their inconsistent play. But hey, they won the inaugural NBA Cup, right? 

But, the playoffs rolled around and I took the initiative to pay attention a bit more. Clearly, the Lakers were easily dispatched by the Nuggets again, I wasn't surprised. I knew the outcome. If we can't stop Jamal Murray, the season is over. And he burned us...twice...at the buzzer.

I watched the playoffs a bit more, got up to the point of the NBA Finals. Once the Boston Celtics went up 3-0 over the Dallas Mavericks, I decided to watch no more. I knew the outcome was inevitable. Boston would one up on us yet again for the most NBA Championships.

I can only look back at the previous years the Lakers have squandered every opportunity to surpass those leprechauns from the East. After winning the 2020 championship (still disputed to this day), they had every chance to fully return to glory. And each time, they somehow fumble the bag year after year since they acquired LeBron James and Anthony Davis. 

This month, it was L after L for the Lakers this offseason. First, their surprise top coaching candidate, UConn's Dan Hurley, spurned them to stay out East in hopes to chase after a 3-peat in the collegiate ranks. An 11th hour surprise ignited some hope for Laker fans. The hope that they can snag a coach that may not have NBA experience, but has experience coaching nonetheless, over another experimental hire like JJ Redick. Turns out, it was never meant to be. 

There's pros and cons from picking a coach from the college ranks. They can either be Brad Stevens levels of great or they can be Rick Pitino / John Calipari levels of awful. But the Lakers believed Hurley was the guy that could be their Brad Stevens: a strategic coach and a proven program builder. But the difference is he has a personality that is somewhat over the top, but you just can't help but love his passion on the sidelines. The Lakers were prepared to give him a lucrative offer to make him one of the highest paid coaches in the NBA. And it's no secret Hurley wanted to try his luck on the NBA level. What better way with one of the prestigious organizations?

The expectation was that they were going to offer Dan Hurley $100M for six years. In reality, they only offered him $70M for six years. Lowballing at its finest. But I understand Hurley's decision to stay. He gets a shot to make history for a 3-peat with UConn. Not to mention, the Lakers coaching position is heavily scrutinized. When you coach the best player in the world, a legendary organization, you are under a heavy microscope. But still, this team was prepared to break the bank for him. And the Lakers being the cheap organization they are, pitched a "strong" proposal for Hurley. But they failed to make the money work. Can somebody tell this team, whatever money they pay the coach doesn't go toward the cap? And let me guess their pitch: we're the Lakers? It's LA? We have 17 championships and an IST (in-season tournament) trophy?

Then, sad news broke last Wednesday with the passing of the Logo, "Mr. Clutch", Jerry West. He was already a Laker great as a player. But he was even better as an executive, laying down the foundations of the Showtime dynasty in the 80s and later the Kobe-Shaq dynasty in the early 2000s. You can even make the argument he helped produced the late 2000s roster as well by gifting them Pau Gasol.

Perhaps the tragic part of Mr. West's passing is that he and the Laker organization were at odds with each other, especially with the Buss family. This organization had many years to mend fences with him and bring him back in a front office role. Even Kobe was demanding his return way back then! But too many times, they passed up on hiring him in an executive/consultant role. How the Lakers honored him after his passing was weak. When the Clippers offered a more sentimental statement, you know it's levels of bad. It's unfortunate fences will never be mended. At least he didn't have to see the Celtics win another title as many would say.

Because we have to, sitting through another Celtics finals appearance and championship win. Where do I begin? They showed the Lakers how long-term building is done. The Celtics were a rebuild project 11 years in the making and it all capped off with the franchise's 18th title in their domination over the Dallas Mavericks. Their road to the championship was highly questionable. But it is no excuse to discredit how they got there. They faced what's in front of them and did what they were expected to do.

I've always argued in the past that the Lakers should follow the same blueprint of their rival as well as other well-run organizations like the Spurs or *cough* the Warriors: build through the draft, develop the core, sign veteran players that fit, make the hard decisions when the team feels that it's ready to compete for a championship. But we are fickle and impatient to the core. And this results in too many short sighted results in an attempt to win now. Chase everybody's superstars is the goal, no matter the cost. And it is a blueprint that is very archaic in today's NBA, especially with the new CBA looming that emphasizes on teams to build from the ground up and develop young players.

The thing about this is the Lakers are stuck to this philosophy that they can't get themselves out of. Since the waning days of Kobe Bryant's career, it was always about chasing the stars. And year after year, they swing for the fences and they miss badly on players in their prime. However, it's a different story when they successfully add stars to their roster...when they're past their prime. They draft really promising young players, but are too impatient to develop them because they're too impatient and we're too impatient. I mean could you imagine if you put today's Laker fans in 1996? They'll be calling for Kobe's head, a rookie Kobe I might add, to be traded after firing 3 air balls against Utah. 

There is no process to follow, no long-term plan in place for this organization. They whiffed on a promising coach. They never made amends with a legend of their own. They sit there as they watch their biggest rival, the rival they desired to chase, one up them again for most championships. Honestly, the cherry on top for this organization is if they just hire JJ Redick as coach and draft Bronny James all to please LeBron. If LeBron does the funniest thing and leave the Lakers via free agency this offseason, I wouldn't be surprised. You can't "out-nepotism" the biggest Nepo baby of all no matter how much nepotism the Lakers developed over the years. We are truly living in the worst timeline here. The Lakers are making headlines, but it's all for the wrong reasons.

Who's to blame? Maybe it's Jeanie for setting up unrealistic expectations. Maybe it's Rob not putting together strong rosters and hiring the right coach. Maybe it's the Rambis family that keeps giving bad advices from the shadows. Maybe it's LeBron for putting this once proud organization in a choke hold. Or maybe it's us, the Laker fans for expecting too much, being the loudest voices in the room.

But hey, at the end of day, it's just basketball, right?