Basketball from a fans perspective

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Renovation imminent

Lately any news related to arenas in Los Angeles has involved Intuit Dome future home of the Clippers. A brand-new building under construction would naturally be the focus however there are plans for a ‘new’ arena at 1111 S. Figueroa Street. The address belongs to Crypto.com Arena, home of the Lakers, NHL Kings, WNBA Sparks and other entertainment venues is receiving an upgrade. The arena first opened in 1999 as Staples Center will be renovated in three phases over the next two years.

The renovation is intended to be finished by 2024 the last season the arena serves as home for the Clippers. Prior to this account being published I viewed YouTube animation how the upgrade would look once it’s completed. In various areas detailed in the video the Lakers logo was quite visible, in other areas the logo of the NHL King was prominently displayed. Missing in the video was any reference to the Clippers. I guess that makes sense, Intuit Dome will be complete, the Clippers will no longer share the building with the other tenants the most well-known of course the Lakers.

Phase 1

Revamp of Chairman’s Club for courtside guests; new family room for players’ families; gutted and redesigned Impact Sports Bar & Grill, exclusive to season-ticket holders; new LED hustle boards (22 feet tall by 65 feet wide), as well as three new ribbon boards; completely renovated all three suite-level concourses; new VIP entrance; two new grad-and-go markets and two new concession stands on the main concourse; campus wide security upgrade; new event lighting system; begin work on replacing the arena’s roof; putting up final new Crypto.com signage.

Phase 2

Main concourse will be refreshed; roof replacement completed; new lights, ceilings, restrooms for clubs; top half of two-level tunnel club completed; expand Xbox Plaza (working with the city on permitting to permanently close off Chick Hearn Court).

Phase 3

Completion of the bottom half of the tunnel club, which claims space vacated by the Clippers’ departure; new main concourse suites; total redo of the tenant teams’ locker rooms, visiting teams; locker rooms, weight facilities, and performers’ dressing rooms; entire event level will be redone; Suite Level A-including the San Manuel Club, Lexus Club

Source AEG 

Thompson Twins   

Recently I was introduced to the Thompson Twins by a story in a dot com website. These basketball playing twins are from Ft. Lauderdale Florida and are named Amen and Asur Thompson. Both stand 6-foot 6-inch in height and weigh 200-pounds, they are shooting guards. The twins played basketball at Pine Crest High School a private institution in Ft. Lauderdale. As for their recent basketball past the duo bypassed their senior year of high school instead signing with Overtime Elite.

For those who might not be aware OTE allows athletes to begin play in the league, all are expected to graduate high school. A note for those reading this, I’ve expanded my list of mock draft sights and that’s what I find most interesting. The twins are listed as high draft picks in the first round of all 5 mock sites. Now for you (and me) hopefully these dot com sites are individually assessing athletes rather than copying off one another. In any event be on the alert for the Thompson twins to hear their names called in the 2023 NBA Draft.   

Starting at center for the Lakers……

If you check the ESPN NBA page and the Lakers depth chart you will see Anthony Davis listed as the starter at center. Yahoo Sports and CBS Sports.Com also have AD as the starting center, all these websites could be wrong by the end of training camp. Reason number one and in all honesty the only purpose, hatred…not aimed at an individual rather the position. AD has stated on more than one occasion he doesn’t like playing center but will do so if asked by the coach. It might be unnecessary for Darvin Ham to ask AD to play at the five because another occupant might become the starter.

Some matchups might see him at center however we could foresee 6-foot 11-inch Damian Jones occupying the position full time. Jones brings a dynamic to the team missing much of last season. He’s not much of an offensive threat except in the lob department, but one of the keys for Jones is his ability to shoot from three and play defense. This is the 21^st Century NBA where centers no matter their height are expected to have a distance game. Ham has indicated his desire for the offense to move through AD rather than LeBron. We must see how this works out, but it could be Jones rather than AD as the Laker starting center.

How do you avoid controversy…apparently not easy?

There is no effective method to avoid controversy anytime there is a big-ticket project under construction. That’s what entails in Philadelphia without a shovel full of dirt to be turnover. We mentioned 76 Place at Market East a few weeks ago, this is a project which will include an indoor arena in Center City Philadelphia. This 18,500-seat arena has a planned opening in 2031. Chase Center in San Francisco and the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles had their share of public issues which caused debate at the beginning of the projects. As for Philadelphia this is what we determined, the proposed location would be one block from Chinatown and a coalition of businesses and organizations are opposing the project.

The Sixers indicate they will meet with the organization to address the concerns voiced. From Wikipedia, ‘Some local residents criticized the plan as it would demolish a block of the Fashion District, which was one of the few local spots to hangout. Others believed that investors should have place more capital into poorer Philadelphia neighborhoods rather than Center City.’ I have no connection to Philadelphia so I can only attempt to report both sides of this issue. Do the Sixers need a new arena might be the first question? Wells Fargo Center opened in 1996 so the arena certainly is not old by any means. Perhaps the ultimate goal of the Sixers is to extricate themselves from a shared arena which is the case at present, I will attempt to follow this story as it continues to evolve.