RIP Ken Stabler

After being falsely leaked out on the Tuscaloosa website, it is unfortunately confirmed that Raiders QB legend, Ken "The Snake" Stabler has passed away yesterday from colon caner. He was 69 years old.

It's unfortunate that young Raider fans like myself were not alive at the time when Stabler spent almost over a decade being the Raiders' signal caller in the 70's when John Madden was still the head coach. When I was deepening my knowledge into the rich history of the Silver and Black, my dad always told me stories about the Raiders of 70's during the time of Jack Tatum, George Atkinson, Willie Brown, Art Shell, Gene Upshaw, Fred Biletnikoff, but I don't think there was ever a player he talked about more than Ken Stabler. He was one of the many faces that defined the days of the Oakland Raiders when they were the most intimidating team that you didn't want to *expletive* with. He's headlined great rivalries such as against the Chiefs and against the Steelers lead in those head-to head battles with Terry Bradshaw. Those stories were always great to hear. He's definitely a one-of-a-kind legend and I hope this is finally the straw that will put him in the Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. R.I.P. Snake.

Lakers Offseason Weekend Transactions Recap

Welcome in to a special recap of the Lakers' offseason activity this past weekend. Last Friday, I made another rant, criticizing the Lakers' management of yet again waiting out on the decisions of big name free agents rather than going out and getting quality players simultaneously in the process. But the past weekend, the Lakers managed to make a couple moves to build their roster and salvage this godawful start to the free agency period. So here are the moves the Lakers made and I will give out my thoughts about each pick up.

Move 1: Acquisition of Roy Hibbert via Trade

So the Lakers lucked out on the LaMarcus Aldridge and Kevin Love sweepstakes. DeAndre Jordan signed with the Mavs. Marc Gasol agreed to a mega deal today to stay with the Grizzlies. The Kings refuse to give away DeMarcus Cousins. Ed Davis signed with the Blazers. The Lakers have a really big void at the Center position so they go out, reach out to the Pacers, and acquire Roy Hibbert this past Saturday. This trade was a way to salvage the Lakers' plan to get a big man in the free agency. This is basically done just to stop the bleeding for the Lakers. They also had Tyson Chandler, Kosta Koufus, and Robin Lopez on the radar, but Chandler signed with the Suns, Koufus with the Kings, and R-Lo with the Knicks. Had the Lakers not made this trade, the deeper the hole gets because there would've been no best option available for the Lakers to address the center position. The Pacers giving up Roy Hibbert was a blessing in disguise for the Lakers, not really in a way to shape them up to challenge the Golden State Warriors or the other stacked teams in the West. Hibbert fills in a desperate need for the Lakers in the Center position. Yes, we can continue to poke fun at the 0 points, 0 rebounds performance, but once he gets his head in the game, he could easily contribute 10-11 points, 7 rebounds a game and considering his size at 7'2, he provides the Lakers a much needed presence to defend the paint. The Lakers' interior defense was just plain awful last season because they didn't have a true rim protector. They were getting burned by the more quicker guards and manhandled by bigger players. With Hibbert, in the worst possible way, this won't happen too often. The assets to acquire Roy Hibbert is a 2nd round pick at best from what I read, so it's not that bad of a deal, but he has one more year on his contract, so the Lakers are renting a Center again, but it doesn't look like they had to give up too much unlike the last time they traded for a Center by whose name we should never dare to mention again in La La Land.

Move 2: Signed Reigning Sixth Man of the Year Lou Williams

In the Lakers next move, which was yesterday, the Lakers made their first free agency signing. And it was a surprising quality move as they snatch reigning Sixth Man of the Year, Lou Williams from the Toronto Raptors. According to ESPN, the contract Williams signed onto for the Lakers was for 3 years for $21 million. The reason why I said this was surprising because not once did the Lakers were speculated to have interest in Williams or have him on their free agency radar. Credit where credit is due, this was a decent surprise by Mitch Kupchak. The acquisition of Lou Williams is what I exactly wanted the Lakers to do while chasing after star players and that was to get out there and get quality role players that could help now. I've always considered Lou Williams as an underrated role player because he can come off the bench and rack up double figure point totals. However, he is also a streaky shooter just like Nick Young, but nonetheless he is versatile and can play either the 1 (point) or 2 (shooting). Likely, Williams is projected to play the 2 considering Jordan Clarkson is there and will likely backup rookie D'Angelo Russell. This was a solid signing for the Lakers.

Move 3: Signed Brandon Bass

On the same day the Lakers signed Lou Williams, they also got out and signed Forward/Center, Brandon Bass from the longtime rival Celtics. Likely this signing is indicated that Bass will replace Carlos Boozer considering they haven't given Boozer a call to re-sign with the team. Bass will replace Boozer in terms of being that veteran presence for this Laker team that is trying to assemble a young core for the future in the post-Kobe Bryant era. Bass will help contribute decent numbers for the team, my only question is will he come off the bench or be a starter day one? Because the Lakers need to find playing time for Julius Randle so he can develop quickly and live up to his potential as a 7th round pick. Preferrably, I would like to see Bass as a contributor off the bench to avoid anything that'll hinder Randle's development. Regardless, if he starts or comes off the bench, Bass is able to put up decent numbers that are not too impressive, but those numbers will be decent for the beneficiary of the team. And yes if Randle gets hurt again (hopefully not), look for Bass to be that insurance policy player, but I'm projecting him to come off the bench.

So what do you think Laker Nation? Do you like any of these moves, do you not like any of these moves? Which moves are good and which moves are bad? Feel free to comment below. I'll probably have a post on the full offseason activity for the Lakers once they pick up with their moves in terms of players gained and players lost. Don't expect to see frequent postings until late August, but if you want to know where I am, I am over at my friend, Stillmattic's blog at bleachzealot.blogspot.com, doing yet another collaboration. I'll see you guys later.

So, Which Free Agent is Available Anyway?

How Jim Buss, Mitch Kupchak, and the whole Laker organization are handling free agency so far.

I'm enjoying my sweet little vacation, yet I'm ready to post any offseason activity the Lakers have done. And so far, what are the Lakers doing? Absolutely nothing.

I could just stand by and let the process pass like I could, but as a passionate fan of the Lakers, this is destroying me inside! It's not about failing to land a star player, but whiffing on other quality players that could help the rebuilding process of a new Laker era after Kobe Bryant. The Laker organization prefers to sit out there and mope that no star player is going to come play for them rather than seek out services of quality role players that can make solid contributions and bridge the gap for the development of future stars like D'Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, and Jordan Clarkson and the departure of Kobe Bryant.

If you guys recall from my Season in Review post for the 2014-15, I said what the Lakers needed to do was not to try and wait it out, hoping a star player will come to them, they gotta focus on signing quality role players first while chasing after a star free agent. Guess what? They are doing it again and us Laker fans are getting to a boiling point of getting extremely pissed off at the lack of activity that the Laker organization is engaging for the past three free agency periods already! How many times are they going to use this strategy? It hasn't worked! Lakers try to lure Marc Gasol in, didn't work, he's staying in Memphis. DeAndre Jordan, didn't work, he agreed to sign with the Mavs. Kevin Love stayed with the Cavs. LaMarcus Aldridge may not potentially come to don the purple and gold. That was Plan A. What was Plan B? The Lakers did not address that. They failed to keep Ed Davis, who was solid as a bench player, he signed with the Blazers. They could've made it a priority to resign Ed Davis first to strengthen the 2nd unit. They did nothing. They could've gone after some top-tier quality and serviceable free agents. They are screwing themselves out of that again. And once the Lakers start making moves, they tend to sign washed up players or 1st round busts, fresh off the free agent dumpster!

I don't know who's calling the shots anymore and who's to blame for this mess that has been going on for three offseasons already. Is it Jim Buss's doing? Is it Jeanie Buss's doing? Is it Mitch Kupchak's doing? Is it Kobe Bryant's doing? Is there a "win now" plan? Is there a future contingency plan? Which direction are the Lakers heading? And who has the ultimate power within that organization? And if that ultimate power is driving off some big free agents or holding back the rest of the organization to go after quality players, somebody own up to it, put their ego aside, put their pride aside, and get these players who could help contribute to this Laker team on this roster! This is a MechG rant. I'll see you guys later.