Tres's 3-pointers for April 12, 2019. Let's roll.
1) Magic Johnson resigned at the Lakers' President of Basketball Operations! If you are a fan of any NBA team but the Lakers this move is another example of the dysfunction within the Lakers organization. The move was also incredibly sudden, unprofessional, and stole all of the headlines from what was supposed to be a send off night to Dirk and D-Wade.
However, if you are a Lakers' fan you should feel lucky that this happened. This move is truly a blessing in disguise (more on that in a bit). First off, Magic Johnson was just straight up not good at his job. According to sources around the league and multiple reports, Magic was in his office working maybe once or twice a week. He was never fully committed to the job and when he did try to do it he was overwhelmed. He and Rob Pelinka made some good and bad moves during Magic's tenure but what really defined his stay with the Lakers is his foiled attempts at an Anthony Davis trade. Without a doubt, the trade rumors and debacle that surrounded the talks are what helped tank the Lakers' season and is the main reason why they find themselves in the lottery once again and have nothing to show for their first season with LeBron. The team preached patience when they first signed James but they showed anything but that in his first season. It was just one of the many short-sighed moves the Lakers made.
If you have followed Magic's career at all though we should have all seen this resignation coming. Upon being drafted by the Lakers Magic fully intended to leave the Lakers after his rookie year and play for the Pistons. Obviously that did not happen but this is an early sign of his desire to move on from something quickly when it is either hard or something he does not want. In 1981, after a disappointing Lakers' season Magic requested a trade from the Lakers because of a feud he had with coach Paul Westhead. However, in both of these situations the magic (pun intended) of Dr. Jerry Buss was able to win over Magic and keep him around. Then in the 1993-1994 season, Magic Johnson agreed to be the Lakers' head coach since he could barely play anymore. The Lakers lost 9 out of their first 12 games and which caused Magic Johnson to resign. As soon as the job got tough he was out.
Magic was out of the public eye for a while, besides business dealings until he returned to be an analyst for ESPN before and after their NBA Prime-time games. He then left after a short time of doing that. Now he has quit being the Lakers' President of Basketball Operations after just under two years. So why?
I think there are two main reasons. I think Magic values his reputation a ton. He understands his legacy and he understands that if something is not working out for him and he does not think he can fix it then he gets out. Yes that is unprofessional and yes it seems like he cuts bait and leaves everyone else to clean up the pieces. However, I think there is another reason for that which leads me to my second reason as to why I think he resigned and why I think he resigned from both ESPN and coaching.
Magic Johnson, when he first contracted HIV, was not supposed to live very long. He was certainly not supposed to leave to be as old and as healthy as he is today. If anyone understands the value of life and the value of doing what makes you happy when you want to do it, it is Magic. If he is unhappy coaching or unhappy running the front office for the Lakers then he should stop doing it. He is a man who is happy and larger than life because he understands how important life is. This does not excuse his sudden resignation without telling Jeannie Buss or anyone else in the organization but it does make the decision more understandable. What he loves is representing the NBA and being Magic Johnson. He does not love being a GM or scouting potential talent for any one franchise. If what makes him happy is watching basketball and being involved in his businesses then he has every right to do so.
One last note on this story. This is a blessing in disguise for Lakers fans. With Magic out of the picture the Lakers have a clean slate to hire a legitimate GM or President who has experience and can fix this once storied organization. Magic was clearly not good at this job (he was good at drafting) when it came to negotiating or trading because his skills and charisma as Magic Johnson do not translate to this world. He is a closer and a good recruiter because he can win over players with his charm and basketball resume. Opposing GMs who hate the Lakers will not fall for his tactics. So I think this breakup works out for everyone. Magic is doing what he loves again, the Lakers ownership gets a clean slate, and Lakers' fans can remember Magic for the great player he was rather than the poor GM he attempted to be.
2) The regular season is over and the best part of the NBA season begins! But first I have my All-NBA teams. Here are my three teams:
Everyone on the first team was an easy lock for me with the exception of Nikola Jokic. I considered Joel Embiid but his injuries toward the end of the season and the Nuggets overall record are what ultimately made me pick Jokic for first team.
On the second team I felt like Kemba deserved it because he averaged 25 points a game and played in all 82 games. Damian Lillard was as consistent as possible all year long and so was Kevin Durant. Kawhi Leonard, despite all his missed games was incredible (and healthy as a horse) when he did play so he makes my second time.
I have Kyrie on the third team, not because of his stats (which were almost all career highs this year) but because of the drama surrounding his team that affected their performance. I have to punish him for that despite how good he was on the court. Bradley Beal is an easy lock on third team. He is a top six guard coming in at number six. LeBron's numbers, when it comes down to it, are all just way too good to leave him off a team. Finally the Pistons are not a playoff team without Blake Griffin. He played hard all season long and deserves to be recognized because of his transformed game. I have KAT as my third team center because he just put up unreal numbers for a player so young. He did all this despite having the first quarter of his season ruined by Jimmy Butler. Surviving all of that alone means KAT deserves an All-NBA spot. It was really hard to leave Russell Westbrook off but his shooting was just too bad to overcome all of other achievements.
Now for All-Defense:
It was tough to find guards to fill out my roster but these guys on my list consistently made their matchups work really hard every night on offense so I want to reward them for that. PJ Tucker moves his feet perhaps better than any other defender in the NBA and Giannis is terrifying for anyone trying to score on him. Rudy Gobert will be the Defensive Player of the Year and Myles Turner led the league in blocks which is why they are both on there.
Onto All-Rookie:
There were a lot of solid rookies this year and this is one of the few years when I actually think we could have a full three Rookie teams without reaching for players. I like how Jalen Brunson has played all year and he is going to be a solid NBA guard. The First team was easy to pick and Marvin Bagley, if not for getting injured, may have made first team as well.
3) This is the final week of Game of Thrones predictions I swear.
Now for the final point. Game of Thrones is fundamentally a show about human nature and I know that Dany has talked about breaking the wheel constantly but when she is pressed about it by Tyrion in Season 7 she sees Tyrion's inquiries as a threat to her reign. I do not believe Dany, once she is on the Throne has any intention of "breaking the wheel". She has no intention to create some new form of government that is just for all, like a democracy or voting type system. I think she wants to be the absolute ruler because she believes it is her destiny to do so. Once the Night King is defeated Dany will turn her direction toward King's Landing and I am afraid she will give in to her worst instincts and destroy much of the city. After seeing this bloodshed, many of our heroes will realize that she has become her father. This will turn our heroes against her and in the ultimate form of tragedy, many of them will fall fighting each other, not fighting the White Walkers.
The show will end with Dany's death, probably Jon's too since he has to kill her in order to save the realm. This show would have an incredibly tragic and heartbreaking ending if the show ended with Jon and Dany being forced to fight each other.
I also am confident Jon is meant to die again (permanently this time) as he makes one more sacrifice to save the realm. This is a story of Ice and Fire and I think that Ice and Fire need to clash and face resolution in order for the story to truly end.
As a result of all this death and tragedy, Tyrion will end up on the Iron Throne but not as a king. He will propose a solution to create a democracy and the first ever vote will be held which will then result in Tyrion being elected as ruler. This will be similar to the early years of the USA when George Washington was elected as the first president. So this is my final prediction, lock it in: Tyrion will be on the Iron Throne but not as a king. Also the Iron Throne will be destroyed. It will be some new chair that symbolizes equality and teaches future generations about the tragedies that came before them in the song of Ice and Fire.
Oh yeah, the show will also definitely end with Sam at the Citadel writing a book called The Song of Ice and Fire which will tell the story of Game of Thrones.
**citations and stats found via Basketball-Reference and NBA.com
Also starting next week, I will be power ranking GOT Season 8 Episodes. Stay Tune!