June 29, 2017 Page 5 Pizza, Pasta & More VALENTINO S “A Taste of Brooklyn” Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, Garden Salad, Garlic Bread, Ample Seating Now Open Sundays! and a drink $1199 Plus Tax No substitutions and coupon must be presented. Please mention coupon when ordering. One per customer. Expires 7/13/17. EL SEGUNDO 150 S Sepulveda Blvd. 310-426-9494 MANHATTAN BEACH 976 Aviation Blvd. 310-318-5959 • DELIVERY IN LIMITED AREA AT BOTH LOCATIONS • Savory Paprika and Chili Rub Ingredients • 1 teaspoon ground paprika • 1 teaspoon chili powder • 2 teaspoons ground cumin seed • 1 teaspoon onion powder • 1 teaspoon cayenne chili pepper • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder • 4 teaspoons olive oil Preparation co-partners with Same great location OPEN 4TH OF JULY 1 block from Rec Park FREE REGULAR SUB with Purchase of Sub of Equal or Greater Value & Regular Drink 1 coupon per visit per customer 130 E. Grand Ave., El Segundo 310-640-6149 Mix all ingredients together and rub into meats, poultry or vegetables (or shake onto soft veggies, tofu or tempeh) Then, refrigerate for one hour before grilling. Lakers Hand Franchise Keys to Lonzo Ball By Adam Serrao The Los Angeles Lakers have finally received what the team and its fans have been waiting ever so impatiently for. With the secnd overall pick in last Thursday’s 2017 NBA Draft, Magic Johnson, new general manager Rob Pelinka and the rest of the Lakers organization selected Lonzo Ball in the first round to join the Purple and Gold. Any time the Lakers get a new piece to add to their otherwise depleted puzzle, the sports world goes crazy--and like a busy day on Wall Street, craziness ensues as opinions and conjecture begin to frantically fly around the room as if people’s lives depended on it. The acquisition of Ball will certainly fuel that very same fire and as Lonzo takes the keys of what has been an old, rundown Ford Explorer, he’ll immediately be expected to turn it into a Lamborghini Veneno. That being said, it has become increasingly evident that the pressure mounted on the 19-year-old’s shoulders to deliver what the Lakers have been lacking is enormous, to say the least. The NBA Draft is a tricky place to try to build a team’s future. Throughout the years, there have been many players who were set to come into the league with all of the hype in the world surrounding them, only to quickly fizzle out and leave the team that drafted them curious, angry and still sitting at the bottom of the standings once again at the end of the year. Anthony Bennett in 2013 may be the best example of a number one overall pick not panning out. There was also Michael Beasley at number two in 2008, Adam Morrison at three overall in 2006, Evan Turner at number two in 2010…and who could possibly forget Greg Oden with the first overall pick in the 2007 draft? Needless to say, now Lonzo must do everything he can to not be mentioned in the same paragraph as those, and other, first round draft day busts. Lonzo may be the most NBA-ready player to enter the league from this year’s draft. Not only did he improve his Chino Hills High School team drastically on the way to an undefeated record and a national championship in his senior season, but he also carried UCLA during his freshman year in college. Lonzo has the unique ability to share the ball, get his teammates involved, and assist his roster in playing better overall team basketball. He led the nation in assists his freshman year and broke the UCLA record for most assists in a season in the only year he was there. Ball has shown throughout high school and college that he is a leader whose only concern is winning. His goal as a player is to make the players around him better--not to fill up the stat line with 60-point nights like a previous Lakers legend did so effortlessly on occasion. Ball should be able to improve his team in every way possible, but must first get past the enormous amount of pressure that has already been placed upon his shoulders. Magic didn’t hesitate to put that pressure squarely on Lonzo’s shoulders immediately after he was drafted. “You look to your right, there’s some jerseys hanging on the wall,” Johnson said to Ball. “We expect a Ball jersey hanging up there one day, all right? Good.” Who could be mad at Magic, though, when he flashes those big pearly whites and the entire room smiles with him? “So, Lonzo,” he continued. “Just leave me one or two records alright? Don’t break all my records. ”Even Pelinka got involved in the immediate praise heaped upon Ball before the latter had played even one minute of NBA basketball. “Those leadership qualities are what’s going to take the Lakers to our ultimate destination, which is winning an NBA championship,” Pelinka said. One second overall draft pick and the Lakers, their front office and fans everywhere are already thinking about championship. It wasn’t long ago that D’Angelo Russell was supposed to be the savior for the Lakers. Russell, the number two overall pick in the 2015 Draft, just got shipped out of town with Timofey Mozgov for Brook Lopez and this year’s 27th pick. Now that he’s gone, it’s easy to point out all of the point guard’s flaws, but he was at one time considered to be the player who was going to turn the Lakers franchise around and had everyone acting like they were on Wall Street again. Russell may still reach his full potential in New Jersey with the Nets, but he alone showed that becoming the league’s next big star is clearly not as easy as simply stepping foot on the basketball court-- especially in Los Angeles. To call someone a franchise player before they have even logged one minute of gametime action is a bit hasty, to say the least. Sure, it’s fun to imagine what a roster full of potential with players like Ball, Brandon Ingram and Julius Randle might look like, but potential is the key word in that sentence. Ball is facing sky-high expectations. With as much pressure that is on the 19-year-old, though, Magic and Pelinka should be feeling even more. Ball is just one piece in turning the Lakers around into a championship team. With the enormous target that has now been placed on his back, he’s going to need a lot of help around him to secure any sort of team transformation. It’s up to Magic and company to find that help in free agency before talk of a championship should even be uttered down the Staples Center hallways. “The tide has turned. People want to play here again,” Magic related to a crowd of reporters. “It’s exciting times for the L.A. Lakers.” The Lakers will have an extreme amount of roster and salary cap flexibility come the 2018 offseason. That’s when Magic plans to do most of his damage in free agency and most of his recruiting to get big-name players like Paul George, for instance, into the Purple and Gold. For now, Laker fans can throw conjecture across the walls and run around yelling at a frantic pace, hoping that their team is championship material. No one’s beating the Golden State Warriors anytime soon, so let Lonzo play his first minute of NBA basketball and maybe then, the Lakers can begin what will still need to be an absolutely enormous transformation into becoming a playoff-ready basketball team. • – Asixlion@earthlink.net
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