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The Sports Report: An inside look at the Tyronn Lue negotiations (OK, maybe not that inside)

Tyronn Lue
(Lachlan Cunningham / Getty Images)
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Hello everyone. My name is Houston Mitchell, and at this rate, everyone reading this will at one point be a candidate to coach the Lakers.

Lakers

A possible glimpse, as imagined by Lakers fans, inside the Lakers front office at the attempt to lure Tyronn Lue to coach the team. In the interest of not embarrassing anyone, we will use a made-up name to represent the Lakers front office. Let’s see, what’s a good name. How about Bob Delinka?

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Phone ringing.

Lue: Hello?

Delinka: Hello Tyronn? This is Bob Delinka of the Lakers. We have quite a deal for you!

Lue: Who is this again?

Delinka: Bob from the Lakers. Listen…

Lue (interrupting): Bob who?

Delinka: Bob Delinka. Listen….

Lue (interruption): Sorry, I’m not interested in buying season tickets. How did you get my number?

Delinka: No, no. This is Bob Delinka. I run the Lakers front office?

Lue: You do? What happened to Magic?

Delinka: Let’s not get into that. Listen, we’d love for you to coach the team.

Lue: Well, OK. There was a lot of turmoil last season, but I know how to deal with LeBron and I have won a championship as coach, so…

Delinka: Exactly. This will be a short negotiation. We have a sweetheart deal for you. Three years, $18 million. And we will pick your staff for you, so you don’t have to stress over that.

Lue: Um, who would be on the staff?

Delinka: You know, Jason Kidd, Kurt Rambis and basically the guys we’d really like to coach the team if LeBron wasn’t here.

Lue: How does that make me want to coach your team?

Delinka: We’re the Lakers! The top franchise in the league! Everyone wants to coach for us! And we’re giving you three years!

Lue: Why only three years?

Delinka: Because that’s when LeBron’s contract runs out.

Lue: So, you are bringing me here because you think I can handle LeBron, but don’t think I can actually coach and plan on me being gone when his contract ends. That’s sort of insulting, don’t you think?

Delinka: Not at all! We’re the Lakers! Plus, you get to work with me every day! A dream come true! So what do you say?

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Lue:

Delinka: Tyronn? Are you there? Tyronn? Uh oh. (holding hand over mouthpiece of phone) Hey Jeanie! Did you pay the phone bill? I think we got cut off.

OK. It may not have gone exactly like that, but still, this is not exactly a high point for the franchise. Maybe they can recover, hire a good coach, make the playoffs next season and this will be looked back on as a momentary glitch. But does anyone really 100% believe that? This is getting sort of sad. From the attempt to trade basically the entire team at the deadline, to giving away Ivica Zubac, to Magic Johnson just deciding to quit, seemingly burying Rob Pelinka on his way out.

Pelinka is beginning to remind me of when I was in sixth grade, and the teacher would leave the room for a moment and leave a student in charge. Which led to anarchy. Pelinka is the student. Lakers fans are still waiting for the teacher to return.

Is Jerry West available?

Read our coverage.

Tania Ganguli and Broderick Turner: Lakers will not hire Tyronn Lue as coach.

Bill Plaschke: Jeanie Buss, Rob Pelinka and Lakers lose Tyronn Lue and credibility.

Arash Markazi: Lakers’ coaching saga continues with team and Tyronn Lue at an impasse.

Hockey

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Helene Elliott on the Jr. Kings visiting the Museum of Tolerance:

“Everyone who visits the Holocaust exhibit at the Museum of Tolerance gets a passport, a small card imprinted with a photo of a child who was caught up in the Nazis’ murderous anti-Semitism. Inserting the card into the slot of computers placed along the way brings up information about that child’s life, community, and location at key moments. It puts a human face on a dark, dehumanized era.

“The last computer reveals the child’s fate. Too often, the answer is heartbreaking.

“If studying history was a dull and dusty concept to members of the Jr. Kings youth team who performed a Nazi salute and made anti-Semitic remarks in a video posted on social media, if those teenagers didn’t know the potential for casual bigotry to inflame hatred and evil, they know it now after spending eight hours at the museum in Los Angeles a few days ago.

“The contingent included coaches, team leaders, members of the under-14 bantam AAA team who participated in the incident, and players who weren’t involved. They got passports and learned about kids who had dreams, like they do, but were killed because of their religion. They learned why Nazism arose and of the bravery of those who fought it. They saw artifacts from the era, including a list of how many Jews were to be exterminated in each country. They could not have been unmoved by videos in which survivors’ testimony was read aloud. In one place their path diverged as it did for concentration camp inmates. Able-bodied people were sent one way, children and others the other way to their death.

“They spoke at length with Holocaust survivor Amrom Deutsch, and were joined by trained consultants to discuss the roots of prejudice and why diversity should be celebrated, not condemned. They came up with a pyramid of ideas they judged important in a team environment and said they’d post it in their locker room.

“This is not a tour of a museum. It’s a journey of exploration, and we are trying to explore something about ourselves,” said Liebe Geft, the museum’s director and a former hockey mom.

“The trip was required of those who participated in the video, which was posted March 9 before the team’s final game at the Pacific District tournament. They also were required to take social media training, perform community service through the museum, and meet with a rabbi. They haven’t done the community service yet. “They will,” Geft said, leaving no doubt. Because they’re minors, their names have not been disclosed.

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“The tour is immersive, intense, and eye-opening. It’s history but it’s current and a guidepost toward the future. “We talk about, why is this relevant today? Why are we learning about something that happened to other people, far away, a long time ago? And they could see connections very clearly,” Geft said. “If we don’t stop the rhetoric, the hate speech, the early indications and the early dynamics, then it can and it still does. That’s the tragedy of the 21stcentury, that we’re still repeating some of those mistakes.”

NBA playoffs

Wednesday’s NBA scores

at Milwaukee 116, Boston 91 (Bucks win series, 4-1)

at Golden State 104, Houston 99 (Warriors lead series, 3-2)

Today’s NBA schedule

All times Pacific

Toronto at Philadelphia, 5 p.m., ESPN (Raptors lead series, 3-2)

Denver at Portland, 7:30 p.m., ESPN (Nuggets lead series, 3-2)

NHL playoffs

Wednesday’s NHL score

at San Jose 3, Colorado 2 (Sharks win series, 4-3)

Today’s schedule

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(All times Pacific)

Western Conference Finals

Saturday, 5 p.m., St. Louis at San Jose, NBC

Monday, 6 p.m., St. Louis at San Jose, NBCSN

Wednesday, 5 p.m., San Jose at St. Louis, NBCSN

Friday, May 17, 5 p.m., San Jose at St. Louis, NBCSN

*Sunday, May 19, Noon, St. Louis at San Jose, NBC

*Tuesday, May 21, 5 p.m., San Jose at St. Louis, NBCSN

*Thursday, May 23, 6 p.m., St. Louis at San Jose, NBCSN

Eastern Conference Finals

Tonight, 5 p.m., Carolina at Boston, NBCSN

Sunday, Noon, Carolina at Boston, NBC

Tuesday, 5 p.m., Boston at Carolina, NBCSN

Thursday, May 16, 5 p.m., Boston at Carolina, NBCSN

*Saturday, May 18, 4:15 p.m., Carolina at Boston, NBC

*Monday, May 20, 5 p.m., Boston at Carolina, NBCSN

*Wednesday, May 22, 5 p.m., Carolina at Boston, NBCSN

*if necessary

Sports Podcast

On the latest episode of the “Arrive Early, Leave Late” podcast, columnist LZ Granderson discusses Boston Red Sox manager Alex Cora’s recent announcement that he would not attend the team’s visit to the White House because of the Trump administration’s handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.

“For the most part, the controversy in terms of White House visits played out during the offseason,” says Granderson, who recently wrote a column on the issue. “With the Red Sox, they’re in the middle or just the beginning of their season.

“And it makes you wonder because they’re below .500 and not performing at the same level they did a year ago if there’s sort of a disconnect happening with teammates now, because you have a large number who are protesting the White House visit and you have some who are going to go.

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“When you look at a team and distractions, that’s, I think, the natural question to ask in regards to that conversation.”

Listen to the podcast by clicking here.

Other newsletters

People ask me why the Dodgers get such little coverage in this newsletter. Well, it’s mainly because I write a Dodgers newsletter you can subscribe to, for free. We also have four other newsletter you can subscribe to for free. They are emailed to you and we don’t sell your name to other companies, so no spam from us. They are:

Our Dodgers newsletter, written by me. Subscribe here.

Lakers newsletter, written by Tania Ganguli. Subscribe here.

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Horse racing newsletter, written by John Cherwa. Subscribe here.

Boxing/MMA newsletter, written by Lance Pugmire. Subscribe here.

Soccer newsletter, written by Kevin Baxter. Subscribe here.

Odds and ends

Dodgers’ offense comes alive to sweep the Braves…. Dodgers reliever Kenley Jansen wouldn’t mind Craig Kimbrel as a teammate…. Nothing goes well for the Angels in lopsided loss to the Tigers…. UCLA men’s basketball team barely escapes NCAA penalties for poor academic progress…. DAZN reports 1.2 million viewers for Canelo Alvarez-Daniel Jacobs fight…. Chris Waller is promoted to head coach of UCLA gymnastics team…. Christian Dawkins convicted of bribery conspiracy in college basketball scandal…. Galaxy cannot keep up with Columbus Crew’s fast start in loss.

Today’s local major sports schedule

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(All times Pacific)

Washington at Dodgers, 7 p.m., Spectrum Sportsnet, AM 570

Angels at Detroit, 10 a.m., FSW, KLAA 830

Born on this date

1928: Tennis player Pancho Gonzalez

1960: Baseball Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn

1965: NHL player Steve Yzerman

1969: Soccer player Carla Overbeck

1970: NBA player Doug Christie

1974: NHL player Stephane Yelle

And finally

NBA legends on how good Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was. Watch it here.

That concludes the newsletter for today. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, please email us here. If you want to subscribe, click here.

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