Offtopic/fun » tournament he won two years ago before his runne

If you think its hard to shake off a centurys worth of baseball futility, just try to break away from decades of basketball success.The Los Angeles Lakers, NBA royalty, had always been the opposite of the Chicago Cubs. That once-pleasant distinction is now their problem, the challenge of shedding the trappings of that rich history when thats precisely what they need to do to morph into a contending team once again.So even as general manager Mitch Kupchak sat in a room in Lakers headquarters and proclaimed Its all new with this 2016-17 edition of the team, on the wall behind him were framed pictures of Kobe Bryant, James Worthy, Jerry Buss with Magic Johnson, and Jerry West. On the wall across from him where pictures of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain. The past is ever-present with this team.You come into the practice facility and walk the halls, and you see pictures of all-time greats, said first-year coach Luke Walton, who went to the Lakers past four trips to the NBA Finals as a player.Yet even with Waltons return to Lakerland, this is as separated as the franchise has ever been from its glory days. Kobe Bryant retired and Byron Scott was let go as coach and in one offseason, there went two central figures from the Staples Center and Showtime eras. For added measure, athletic trainer Gary Vitti, one of the bridges between the two dynasties, retired. Jerry West has been gone since 2000, The Voice of the Lakers Chick Hearn died in 2002, Shaquille ONeal was traded in 2004, Jerry Buss passed away in 2013 and Magic Johnsons name was taken off the company masthead this past year after one tweet too many. Kupchak, who transitioned from playing to the front office in the 1980s, is practically the only name from the past left in the building.I mean, you cant hold on to everything forever, Kupchak said.Every member of the coaching staff except for Mark Madsen is new. Two new therapists and a new strength and conditioning coach will report to Vittis replacement, Marco Nunez. There are two new hires for the analytics department. Theres a practice facility under construction a few blocks away from their current site in El Segundo.A lot of its almost like pressing a reset button, Kupchak said.That includes a shift in the philosophy of building the team. No longer will you see the Lakers take the approach that failed them in recent off-seasons: patching together rosters with players whose primary attributes were expiring contracts that would create the salary cap space for the Lakers to pursue a star free agent. After Dwight Howard walked out the door and the likes of Carmelo Anthony and LaMarcus Aldridge?turned them down in recent summers, it was time to scrap that approach. Not only had the rules that once enabled them to sign Shaquille ONeal changed (the Lakers can no longer outbid teams, or offer the same number of years as a players current team), so had the landscape.You have to have assets; cap room alone is overrated, Kupchak said. I think if you talk to teams in the NBA for the last four or five years that have had all kinds of cap room, its a stressful situation. Because youve got to go out there and pay non-max players, youve got to overpay to get somebody, depending on the city. And you might not get somebody. And then you kick the can down the road a year and try to do the same thing next summer.Thats why this year, rather than fish for the biggest names in the free agency pond, the Lakers quickly signed Timofey Mozgov and Luol Deng to contracts worth a combined $136 million over four years. Its explained by Kupchaks one-word expectation for this season: progress. Young teams dont win in the NBA. Adding those two veterans to the all-under-25 group of Julius Randle, DAngelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson, Brandon Ingram, Larry Nance Jr. and Ivica Zubac was designed to make the Lakers incrementally better, faster.Taking small steps isnt the traditional Laker way. Its also a potentially risky strategy for this Laker administration under executive vice president for basketball operations Jim Buss, who had pledged to step down after this season if the Lakers have not returned to contending status. A new name at the top could potentially mean new names throughout the organization, including Kupchaks job.My only goal is to get this franchise on solid footing with young players, free agents and flexibility, Kupchak said. And I think weve done that.I dont know how many games were going to win. But my hope is that as the season goes on, our fans, our partners, the TV audience can watch this team play and see growth and see enthusiasm. Luke is not an experienced coach, but Im hoping as this season goes on everybody can watch a coach become a good coach. And watch young players develop and grow. And I want to see exciting basketball. Thats my focus. To get involved in anything else from where I sit is counterproductive. And thats really all I focus on.These are different days in Lakerland, when the immediate goals arent championships, and the players are guaranteed to hang on the walls one day. How will this play? Well, Denzel Washington is a good indicator to follow. He isnt so much a hardcore Laker fan as he is a fan of the sport at its highest level. He typically only sits in his courtside seats when he expects a good game. He was there on opening night, and after the Lakers high-scoring victory over the Houston Rockets he said, with a touch of surprise in his voice, I like what I see.Irving Fryar Youth Jersey . While hell be dialed in to that tournament on a course he loves, you can forgive him if his eyes glance down the calendar just a bit, towards April. John Hannah Jersey . Fernandez, coached in Toronto by former two-time Olympic silver medallist Brian Orser, scored 267.11 points and is the first champion to successfully defend since Russias Evgeny Plushenko in 2005 and 2006. https://www.patriotssportsgoods.com/Womens-Tom-Brady-Inverted-Jersey/ . Down by seven with 90 seconds left in regulation, thats where they looked comfortable. Tom Brady Youth Jersey . - Derek Wolfe says hes finally healthy after suffering a seizure in November that doctors now believe was related to the spinal cord injury he suffered in the preseason. Rob Gronkowski Womens Jersey .Y. -- Paul Byron and Matt Stajan scored as the Calgary Flames started a five-game road trip with a 2-1 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon.SYDNEY -- Sit back and enjoy the ride. Thats Jordan Spieths message to Dallas Cowboys fans.But be sure to keep any thoughts of gloating away from social media, too; until they reach the playoffs, at least.Ive been quieter on social media this year about it, Im kind of just like just let them do their thing, Spieth said at Royal Sydney Golf Club, where he is preparing to play in the Australian Open.But come Super Bowl time, if they go through the process and make it there, then we can go nuts ... most people arent Cowboys fans and Ive realized Ill just keep to myself [until then].Currently riding an eight-game winning streak and three games clear at the top of the NFC East, the Cowboys are the hottest team in the NFL.And its all been without star quarterback Tony Romo, with?Dak Prescott thriving in the hot seat of one of the NFLs most scrutinized franchises.Its incredible what theyre doing, Spieth said of the Cowboys.I think they actually just recently named that Dak was going to stay the starter, I think Jerry Jones named that, he continued when asked whether Prescott should retain the starting spot.Its awesome to have two fantastic quarterbacks on the team when we were kind of really struggling last year with Tony out. [Its] fun to watch. I hope I actually get to go back and get to a couple of games. It looks like theyre going to make it into February - so to the Super Bowl.Spieth said Dallas was a ddifferent place when the Cowboys were winning.ddddddddddddI mean when the Cowboys are playing well, the city of Dallas is just rocking, its just a different vibe.Texas is just a huge football state, so its a lot of fun at home now and hopefully [Ill] get to a couple of games.Before he heads back to the U.S. to take in some Cowboys action, Spieths focus is firmly on this weeks Australian Open -- a tournament he won two years ago before his runner-up finish in 2015.This year hasnt reached the lofty heights of his amazing five-win 2015 season, but Spieth said he was maybe a little disappointed really only with the second half of the PGA Tour.I got myself into position early on this year, I mean Hawaii was a better performance than any of the ones in 15, he said.And then the Masters, I got myself into position there, a couple of swings away from another major and then, where else, Colonial, winning the way we did there was a lot of fun, too.So it was just the second half of the year where I would say I maybe tried just a bit too hard, didnt let it come to me, was getting a little frustrated with the lack of first-place finishes; I guess, even though if you win five times a year from the amount of time I expect to be on tour, Ill have more than Tiger [Woods]. So its unrealistic. ' ' '