A SPRINGTIME SNIPPET

Lakers President, Jeanie Buss is continuing her

father's legacy. She is worried that LA's most

successful sports franchise seems far removed

from when she can add another NBA Champion-

ship trophy on her office shelf. She states that

her Dad did not tolerate losing very well and he'd

be anxious to make moves to get us back into

contention. Well, there are reasons now that go

beyond any debilitating loss. Fans frustrations too

enters into this. Buss also feels the pressure.

Then too, she does not want to let her late father

down.  With Jerry Buss' passing in 2013, the Lakers

can no longer lean on his comforting presence.

Still, Jeanie Buss maintains she will do her best

within her role for keeping her father's legacy.

Saying, as family, they  are committed to that. Prior

to her father's passing, Jeanie Buss spent 14 

seasons as the Lakers' executive vice president

of business operations.. Jeanie says that her

Dad,  one of a kind, was a visionary and that

she wants to make sure she is continuing to

protect that legacy and move in a direction

that would be what he would want.

Former Laker Steve Nash is enjoying his

retirement but is still continuing as mentor

to Laker Jordan Clarkson. His view of Clarkson

is that he is a great kid and that it has been

fun for him to act as his mentor.  He states that

Clarkson has averaged 15.8 points on 45.8

% shooting with 5 assists and 4.2 rebounds in

32.1 minutes through 38 starts, so has the ingredients

to one day be a terrific NBA player,  sky being the limit.

Both Kupchak and Byron Scott hope that Clarkson

does indeed develop into a leader.

Even though right now, it is not looking too good,

it is no new news that Kobe Bryants'  shoulder

injury caused a lot of concern, but we are being told

that he already is starting to lift weights and seems

to have a full range of motion. Scott says that

Kobe is looking good and he feels that Kobe will

go at this thing real hard this summer to get

himself ready for training camp but hopefully 

he will not overdo.

On a different note, we see that the Oklahoma City

Thunder has fired their coach, Scott Brooks. Brooks 

coached the Thunder for 7 seasons and led the team

to the Western Conference finals 3 out of 4 years.

Roles are never too secure are they?

Winds out our way for days but today it feels

warmer and sky is sunny,

BABS WELLS

ONE AND DONE

One team, the Sacramento Kings have defeated us

in our last two games played in this season. One

in Sacramento and one last night here in L.A.

Wondering how this upcoming season will go.

No more games to be played in our regular season

for this year..up until next fall again, that is.

Just as Jeremy Lin spent several minutes reflecting

on his frustrating 2014-15 Lakers season, Nick Young

opened the door to the press room and briefly

interrupted the interview. This evidently was not the first

time Young briefly stole Lin's spotlight. Young infamously

crashed Lin's post-game interview back in late February.

This followed a rare win over Boston, an antic that aired

on  Jimmy Kimmel Live and sparked scorn from both 

Scott and Kobe Bryant. Young will soon enter the off-

season with more scrutiny after averaging 13.4 points

on a career-low 36 % shooting & having occasional

clashes with Scott. Even with this, Young said he is

feeling confident he will stay with the Lakers. Young

still remains under contract for 3 more years at $16.33 mil.

Our losing game in Sacramento was with score of:102-92.

This victory Kings snapped a 3 game losing streak for them.

Our Wednesday night game @ Staples, found us

being tied more than once and still, we lost it with the

score showing them at over 100 & us at 99.

Jordan Clarkson is certainly one of our bright spots

from this forgetful season. He will soar into the summer

and next season be powered by the momentum of a rookie

season that will unfold about as well as any of us can expect.

The picks we have in this draft are a free agent market.

We know that we have a lot of work to do but yet we are

still very excited about it and so a season from hell finally

has come to its' dying end. For the Lakers?

Our work is just beginning. As the Good Book reminds

us " Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will

have its' own worries, Sufficient for each day is its' own

troubles". With the summer to look forward to we will

end this season and wish everybody a comforting and

a healthy season ahead for all of us. I will continue tending

to my flowers, reading my novels, and enjoying spending

time with my loving family as often as possible. 

Till next time....

BABS WELLS

COMING DOWN TO THE WIRE

Seems that our Coach, Byron Scott, wants Black

back this next season. The Lakers appear to

insist on retaining rookie forward/center Tarik

Black, who has a non-guaranteed contract worth

$850,000 next season. Black spent the last year

going undrafted and then playing in 25 games for

'the Houston Rockets before they cut him to sign

free-agent Josh Smith after Detroit surprisingly

waived him.  Scott loves Black's hustle, his

athleticism and positive attitude. He also

called Black the team's best defensive

communicator. But with Black planning to play 

on the Lakers' summer league squad in July, Scott

focused on 2 areas he does want improvement.

Jeremy Lin missed practice because pf sore-

ness in his left knee, an injury that has kept

him out for playing games. He did manage to get

in some dribbling drills. We lost the game against

the Dallas Mavericks with ending score:120-106.

The Lakers (21-59) will head into the NBA draft

lottery with the league's fourth-worst record. 

They have roughly an 83 % chance of keeping

their pick, which would go to Philadelphia if it

is outside the top five. In the Dallas game,

Tarik Black had 10 points and 19 rebounds,

becoming the first Lakers rookie with at least

18 in a game since George Lynch in 1994.

Guard Jeremy Lin was ruled out for the final

games with his sore knee.Nick Young was

also given the news that he is out now for the 

season due to various injuries so he and Kobe

Bryant sat out watching the game from the bench.

Our next game will be at the Kings, 7:30 p.m.

BABS WELLS

THREE LEFT TO GO

Denver Nuggets played our L.A. Lakers and

the ending score showed its' ugly face. We

lost the game. The score was: 119-101.

Rookie Jordan Clarkson had 21 points

and Ryan Kelly added 17 but we still

lost four games in a row & 17-21.

Made up for it last evening however, as

we won Friday night,  ending score of:106-98.

 against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Ryan Kelly scored 21 points & rookie

Jabari Brown added 20 points + 7 assists.

It was a win-win game right from the start.

Point guard Jeremy Lin, however, was sidelined

by a sore left knee + coach Byron Scott sat

Carlos Boozer, Jordan Hill and Wayne

Ellington in order to give some of his other

players more minutes while the club continues

to evaluate where they stand for next season.

The Lakers (21-58) who have already set a

franchise record for losses, increased a 5-point

half-time lead to 70-54 with an 18-7 run that

included 3 baskets by Kelly from a 3-point

range. We came out strong in the 4th. quarter 

with a 12-4 spurt that widened the gap to 92-75

with 8:07 left to play. During that run, Clarkson

made a behind-the-back pass to Brown for a

fast-break-layup. The injury-riddled roster has

occasionally forced development coaches 

Thomas Scott & J.J. Outlaw & assistant

coach Larry Lewis to practice. 

The Lakers have not  decided whether they will 

attempt to re-sign guard Jeremy Lin, who

becomes an unrestricted free agent in July.

Our upcoming game is in L.A. at Staples

this coming Sunday evening against  the

Mavericks so we shall  see how this goes..

In the meantime, have lost a very young female

basketball player. Her name : Lauren Hill.

She played college basketball and lost her

young life  fighting a cancerous brain tumor.

She was only 19 and lost her battle on Friday.

Her motto, fighting cancer was"Never give up".

She inspired those around her and will be

 remembered as having a fighting spirit.

R.I.P. Lauren.

BABS WELLS

STAPLES CENTER CO-TENANT

We did so much better but still we lost

the game at the end with score being:

105-100. The Clippers' Jamal Crawford

made the attempt to grab a pass next to

our Jeremy Lin on Tuesday in L.A.

Jordan Clarkson led by 20 points, all in

the first three quarters. Tarik Black

added another 16 points and Wesley

Johnson had 15. The Lakers got within

one on a technical free throw by Ryan

Kelly, capping a 17-11 stretch that

included 3-pointers by Jabari Brown,

Johnson and newcomer Dwight Buycks.

Carlos Boozer's jumper left the Lakers

trailing 89-88. The Clippers hung on to eke

out their seventh straight win and 11th. in 

their last 12 against the Lakers, their

most successful 12-game stretch in the series

in franchise history.

Coach Byron Scott is giving his endorsement

for Defensive Player of the Year to Jordan.

Scott says "He scares the hell out of

guys and alters shots and he makes

guys think about coming into the middle".

The Lakers have not beaten the Clippers

since October 27. 2013.

Jabari Brown averaged 11 points on 46.6 %

shooting in 27.33 minutes through six games

during his second 10 day contract. In his first 

10 day contract, he averaged 7 points on

57.9 % shooting in 20 minutes per night

through 4 games. Since then, Scott has

raved about Brown's confidence, unselfish

play, ballhandling and pick & roll defense.

Brown went undrafted at the University

of Missouri before playing on the Lakers'

training camp roster.

We are winding down on this season and it

will not begin in full again until October.

Until then, we wait it out and hope for

better days up ahead in our future.

BABS WELLS

L.A. vs. L.A.

The game on Sunday evening was difficult

to watch. Our Lakers hosted the Clippers

down at Staples Center and from the

very start it was a struggle and final score was:

106-78. Again they will be facing each other

on Tuesday night. This made the 56th. loss

for our Lakers. We have had a historic ineptitude

with our relationship so it is hard to deal with

as roommates here at Staples.

The Clippers had a 31-game lead over us

in the Pacific Division standings. Our Wesley

Johnson did make 16 points. It seems that

Nick Young will still not be able to play at all.

With 6 games left to play, the Lakers have 

surpassed last season's team as the losing-

est in the 16-time champion franchise's

illustrious history. Earlier we also took a

loss against the New Orleans Pelicans.

On Wednesday our loss scoring was:113-92.

Yes, a victory too was ours when we played

on Friday night against the Portland Trailblazers.

Also on Friday, our Lakers signed up 190 lb.

guard Dwight Buycks to a 10 day contract

after the NBA approved a hardship exception

because of various season-ending & long

term injuries. Did have a truly wonderful

tour however this past week out by Lake

Elizabeth and close to Lake Hughes. It

is a camp for terminally ill children for

the nicer parts of the year, weather-wise..

This is in Antelope Valley area in the High Desert.

The Lakers have put in a huge basketball

court there complete with our Lakers logo

J.Paul Getty was instrumental in the

workings and architectural make-up

of this sprawling, wonderful place.

It was instigated by actor Paul Newman

first in his home-state & he called that one the

"Hole in the Wall" in Connecticut. Actually

there are 30 such camps around the world.

The families too can join them (all free)

with donations provided for this venture.

Mess-hall meals, total medical staff, horses

to ride, trails to tred, a great big outdoor

area for all sorts of activities taking place

and many cabins (lovely ones at that) plus 

a big recreational hall, but what took my

notice the most was our Lakers gym.

For me to obtain the tour, it took my breath 

away at the beauty seeing turtles and waters, the 

crafts allowed and the ambiance of the entire

acreage area, For anybody interested please

telephone : 1-310-451-1353 (or) do email

them  at: info@thepaintedturtle.org.

This is the Paul Newman's global network

of SeriousFun Camps. You may also join them

with your email address to be on their mailing list.

Meanwhile tomorrow eve. let's watch our Lakers

again as the L.A. Clippers host us at Staples Center.

BABS WELLS

http://www.thepaintedturtle.org/

QUITE A LOSS

For those that do observe it, today is Maundy

Thursday, for anybody else just be it noted

our Lakers took quite a loss right in L.A. at 

Staples Center Wednesday night. The final score

was:113-92 and by the way, my very last

writing had that score incorrect. It was

to have been 113-111 (not 113-11). Sorry.

Anyway, Our man, Jordan Clarkson again

was hot and he averaged a team leading

14.9 points with 4.5 assists & 4.1 rebounds.

Reading an article about Clarkson was so

interesting, will pass some of it now on to you.

His father, Mike Clarkson, was not only his

coach, Dad and friend, but also a cancer

survivor. He named him Jordan for the famed

"Michael Jordan" of NBA  plays we all know of.

Mike's Dad suffered two very hard surgeries.

One in March 24, 2014 & another on March 25

of that year. He was in rehab and in a wheel chair but

he never missed his constant exposure to his son Jordan.

Clarkson, 22 is now sparking more smiles than when

he was so worried over his Dad. Our Lakers are only

9 games away from finishing a second consecutive

season in which they will be missing the playoffs.

Clarkson's great plays have been one of the few clear 

bright spots for us and the Lakers consider him

a steal after paying Washington Wizards $1.8 mil. to

secure his rights with the 46th. pick in the draft. He

has averaged 14.9 points on 45.2 % shooting and

4.1 assists as starter for the past 30 games.

Two Hall of Famers' have mentioned him,

including Steve Nash in private workouts and

Kobe Bryant on the bench at home games.

Our next game will be on Friday when we 

play the Blazers. See you then.

BABS WELLS