Lakers Archives - The Bank

L.A. Lakers Have NBA Title Potential, but Too Many Questions to be Favorites

October 25, 2019 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

Like Randy Newman, the NBA title handicappers love L.A. The top two favorites to win it all in the National Basketball Association this season both reside in Los Angeles and they squared off in the season opener.

The L.A. Clippers, who have the most favorable title odds of anyone in the league, beat the L.A. Lakers 112-102 Tuesday night, on the strength of their fourth quarter defense, which held the Lakers to just 17 points in the final 12 minutes. The Lakers have the second most favorable NBA title odds with the Milwaukee Bucks coming in third.

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Filed Under: Lakers, NBA

Christian Pulisic Welcomes Pelicans Josh Hart to Chelsea Home Opener

August 18, 2019 By paulmbanks 1 Comment

Chelsea forward Christian Pulisic welcomed New Orleans Pelicans shooting guard Josh Hart to Stamford Bridge today for the Blues home opener against Leicester City. Hart is a Chelsea super supporter who played college basketball at Villanova, which is not far from Pulisic’s home town of Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Hart, a two time All-American in college, helped lead Villanova to a national title in 2016. However, he certainly has not been a “star” (as the tweet below indicates) in the NBA thus far. The former Los Angeles Laker, traded to New Orleans as part of the Anthony Davis trade, is actually more a “role player.”

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Filed Under: Chelsea, Football/Soccer, Lakers, NBA

RefRatings is a New Sports App that’s Both Timely and Timeless

March 11, 2019 By paulmbanks 2 Comments

As a University of Illinois alumna, I can say from experience that no fan base is as paranoid about the officials as Illini fans are.

The one exception being, oh, every other zealous sports fan base on the planet. Remember “fan” is short for “fanatic,” and one thing that every member of all zealous fan bases has in common is a serious belief that the refs are all out to get their team. Which makes RefRatings, a new app that just launched in 2019 and is available for free in the App Store, timeless.

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Filed Under: Business, Lakers, NBA, Tech

2018 NBA Mock Draft 6-21-18 Final Edition

June 20, 2018 By paulmbanks 7 Comments

Welcome to our fourth version of our 2018 NBA Mock Draft. It’s the first edition post lottery. For more on a given prospect, click his name where hyper-linked, and that will take you to an in-depth feature piece on said player. Team needs were sometimes, but not always taken into account, and the order was derived from Tankathon, who we linked here.

You may not agree with the picks in this 2018 NBA mock draft, and yes, somebody will get left out, but you can air your grievances in the comments section. Just keep it all above board.

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Filed Under: Chicago Bulls, College Basketball, Duke Blue Devils, Kentucky Wildcats, Lakers, Michigan State Spartans, NBA, NBA Draft, Purdue Boilermakers

Pete Carroll, Charles Barkley, Mark Cuban Respond to Trump UGLINESS

September 24, 2017 By paulmbanks 1 Comment

Friday night Donald Trump held a campaign rally for an election that he already won 10 months ago. At the rally he called Colin Kaepernick, and other NFL players who don’t stand for the national anthem, “sons of bitches.”

Therefore he also called mothers of NFL players “bitches” in the process. Naturally and deservedly, he’s getting a ton of blowback for such hateful and divisive commentary. Chicago Bears Team Captain Akiem Hicks called Trump out on Saturday.

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Filed Under: Business, Chicago Bears, Chicago Bulls, Green Bay Packers, Lakers, NBA, NBA Draft, New England Patriots, News and Current Events, NFL, NFL Draft, Oakland Raiders, Politics, Social Issues

2017 NBA Draft: Several Reasons this “Event” is Receiving Almost No Buzz

June 20, 2017 By paulmbanks 5 Comments

A few years ago, a Twitter user (and we only use the term “Twitter user” because we literally cannot locate the Tweet now) posted “the NFL Draft is porn, the NBA Draft is comfort food and the MLB Draft is stamp collecting.”

He did not even bother analogizing the NHL Draft, and he was right not to do so. Here in 2017, his hilariously accurate at the time metaphors are now a bit off. While the NFL Draft is still a huge event it has definitely peaked in relevance. Its importance was overrated anyway. The MLB Draft is still certainly about as exciting as stamp collecting, but the NBA Draft is definitely not comfort food.

It’s more like a mediocre frozen dinner or run-of-the-mill cafeteria fare.

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Filed Under: Chicago Bulls, Lakers, NBA, NBA Draft

Jeff Van Gundy Speaks Up for NBA Fans Scammed When Star Players Sit Out

June 1, 2017 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

When a NBA fan shells out an astronomical amount of money to go see his favorite team play, and many of the star players rest that night, it’s pure consumer fraud. On the NBA Finals (our full series preview and prediction here) media conference call, ABC/ESPN NBA Analyst Jeff Van Gundy. took a stand for ripped-off fans everywhere.

Yes, indeed one of the so-called “media elites” fighting for the alleged “little guy.”

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Filed Under: Business, Chicago Bulls, Lakers, NBA

Top 10 Biggest Upsets in the History of Basketball

May 19, 2017 By patrick pierce Leave a Comment

Basketball is a fast and furious game, in which momentum often changes in an instant. Thrills and spills are guaranteed, and this short list of upsets are just a small sample of the many memorable games that have rocked this sport over the years.

This list is proof positive that it’s never really over until it is truly over, and complete turnarounds are possible at any point of play.

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Filed Under: Chicago Bulls, College Basketball, Lakers, NBA, NBA Draft

2017 NBA Draft Lottery Conspiracy Theories for EVERY SINGLE TEAM

May 16, 2017 By paulmbanks Leave a Comment

Every single NBA Draft Lottery, the conspiracy theorists will come out in full force.

In reality though, the lottery is just an endeavor of mixed integrity. The genuine, empirical truth likely lies somewhere between the two polarities of “hey, man it’s all manipulated by the league, the NBA Draft lottery Illuminati know!” and “just luck/serendipity! (or what economists call “pure competition”)

It’s rather sad though, how much the world has changed in such a short time since we did the first and only previous edition of this article in 2015.

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Filed Under: Business, Chicago Bulls, Lakers, NBA, NBA Draft

NBA Mock Draft Second Round 5/16/17

May 15, 2017 By patrick pierce 1 Comment

Here is The Sports Bank’s 2017 NBA Mock Draft. Outstanding trades have not been taken into account with the second round. Also, if you’re into NBA Draft Lottery conspiracy theories, you’ll want to read the feature piece linked here.

(Updated: 5/15/17)

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Filed Under: Chicago Bulls, College Basketball, Duke Blue Devils, Illinois Fighting Illini, Kentucky Wildcats, Lakers, Michigan State Spartans, NBA, NBA Draft, North Carolina Tar Heels, Purdue Boilermakers